Glaucoma: Early Detection Can Mean A Good Prognosis Is In Sight

Certain groups are more prone to glaucoma than others

In a recent U-T San Diego Article: Glaucoma: Early detection can mean a good prognosis is in sight, as part of the National Glaucoma Awareness Month, Erik Hutkin writes an informative piece about Glaucoma. Citing several local experts in the field, including our very own Dr. Alborzian. Below is an exerpt from the article, to read the article in its entirety click the link below:

 

One surgery that’s being performed at Scripps Health in San Diego is canaloplasty, a nonpenetrating technique that enhances and restores the eye’s natural drainage system to reduce intraocular pressure. Canaloplasty uses a microcatheter to circumnavigate the canal around a patient’s iris. This enlarges the main drainage channel and its smaller collector channels through the injection of a sterile, gel-like material called viscoelastic.

The catheter is then removed and a suture is placed within the canal and tightened, which ensures the canal remains open. By opening the canal, the pressure inside the patient’s eye is relieved.

“Canaloplasty gives patients a safer alternative with less risk and shorter recovery time,” Dr. Shervin Alborzian, of Scripps Health in San Diego, said in a press release. “The procedure takes about 40-90 minutes in an outpatient surgery setting, with most patients going home the same day. The safety of this surgery allows me to offer a surgical solution earlier in the treatment of glaucoma and to those who cannot tolerate their eye drops because of their various side effects.”

 

Glaucoma: Early detection can mean a good prognosis is in sight