WHAT'S NEW

What's New at Eye Care & Surgery Center

CustomCornea®

We have upgraded our practice with the LADARVision® CustomCornea® system so that it is now possible for you to have a completely customized Laser Vision Correction treatment right in the comfort and convenience of our office. The LADARVision® CustomCornea® System allows us to measure optical aberrations in your eye, which we previously could not even measure-and gives us the ability to actually treat those aberrations. Our integration of this new technology called Wavefront Guided Laser Eye Surgery is part of our continued commitment to the quality of care for our patients.

"By using advanced technology to measure both lower- and higher-order aberrations, and then treating each patient's unique pattern of lower- and higher-order visual errors, we are aiming to improve both visual acuity, which is measured against standard numerical outcomes such as 20/20, and the overall quality of vision, such as increased visual crispness and clarity," said Dr. Confino.

Treating Glaucoma

Information About the SLT Laser

Open Angle Glaucoma most commonly results from elevated pressure in the eye due to a decrease in fluid drainage from the eye. The pressure causes damage to the optic nerve, resulting in vision loss. People who are at increased risk are those with a family history of glaucoma, those who are nearsighted, those who have diabetes, and those whose corneas measure thinner than the average person. Advanced age, trauma, and birth conditions may also be a factor.

The goal in treatment is to reduce the pressure in the eye, preventing damage to the optic nerve. This can be accomplished in one of three ways: eye drops, laser treatment, or surgery.

A combination of several eye drops may be used to lower the pressure in the eye, but the drops tend to be expensive and difficult to remember. They also have side effects. With recent advances in laser therapy to treat glaucoma, a new procedure called selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) now offers patients a new option for managing their glaucoma.

In the past, we treated chromic open-angle glaucoma with the Argon laser by treating the drainage area of the eye, called the trabecular meshwork. To do this, we made small, evenly spaced burns in the trabecular meshwork to stimulate drainage. However, this particular laser causes scarring of the tissue, making it impossible to later re-treat the same eye. If the eye pressure started to slowly rise again over the next several years, as it often can, it was not possible to re-treat with the Argon laser because of the scarring it created.

With the new SLT laser, we don’t have this problem. The laser energy used in this procedure has the ability to selectively target pigmented cells in the trabecular meshwork, allowing only those cells to absorb the laser’s energy. This means there is no resulting tissue damage, making the procedure repeatable.

This is exciting because now we can use the laser sooner rather than later when treating chronic open-angle glaucoma. The procedure takes only 5 minutes. We administer eye drops prior to the procedure for anesthesia and we perform the laser treatment through a special lens that is placed on the eye, similar to a contact lens. Postoperatively your glaucoma medications are maintained and anti-inflammatory medications will be used, but your eye will not usually be irritated. The full pressure lowering effect of the SLT is usually achieved after 1-2 months, after which your medications might be reduced or stopped completely. The success rate of reducing or eliminating your medications is approximately 75-90%. As only half of the eye is treated at any sitting, a second separate laser treatment to the eye may have to be performed within a few months of the first laser treatment.

Of course it is possible that you might not have any beneficial result from the SLT laser, but what makes this new laser procedure so exciting is that if it does not work, there does not appear to be any damage produced and that it is able to be repeated if the effect lessens over a several year period. It even appears to be effective if previous laser treatment has failed.