What you need to know about getting glaucoma treatment in Brooklyn and Manhattan

Glaucoma occurs when fluid builds up in the front part of your eye. The extra fluid increases the pressure in your eye, damaging the optic nerve.

Your eye constantly makes aqueous humor. As new aqueous flows into your eye, the same amount should drain out. The fluid drains out through an area called the drainage angle. This process keeps pressure in the eye (called intraocular pressure or IOP) stable. But if the drainage angle is not working properly, fluid builds up. The pressure inside the eye rises, damaging the optic nerve.

The optic nerve is made of more than a million tiny nerve fibers. It is like an electric cable made up of many small wires. As these nerve fibers die, you will develop blind spots in your vision. You may not notice these blind spots until most of your optic nerve fibers have died. If all of the fibers die, you will become blind.

The only way to diagnose glaucoma is with a complete eye exam.

During a glaucoma exam, we will:

• Measure your eye pressure
• Inspect your eye’s drainage angle
• Examine your optic nerve for damage
• Test your peripheral (side) vision
• Take a picture or computer measurement of your optic nerve
• Measure the thickness of your cornea

Glaucoma damage is permanent – it cannot be reversed. But medicine and surgery help to stop further damage.

Open-angle glaucoma

To treat open-angle glaucoma, we may use one or more of the following treatments:

Eyedrops

Glaucoma is usually controlled with eye drop medicine. The eye drops lower eye pressure by reducing the amount of aqueous fluid the eye makes. Others reduce pressure by helping fluid flow better through the drainage angle.

Eyedrop medications include:

• Prostaglandins
• Beta blockers
• Alpha-adrenergic agonists
• Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors
• Rho kinase inhibitor
• Miotic or cholinergic agents

Oral medications

If eyedrops alone don’t bring your eye pressure down to the desired level, we may also prescribe an oral medication.

Laser surgery and other therapies 

There are two main types of laser surgery to help aqueous drain from the eye and stop the progression of glaucoma.

• Laser trabeculoplasty
• Filtering surgery
• Drainage tubes
• Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery

Angle-closure glaucoma

Acute angle-closure glaucoma requires urgent treatment to reduce the pressure in your eye. This typically requires both medication and laser or a surgical procedure such as iridotomy.