Do you know why glaucoma is sometimes called the sneak thief of sight?
Because it has no early symptoms and no pain as it slowly, imperceptibly, affects your peripheral vision. Half of the estimated 3 million Americans with glaucoma don’t even know they have it. Without detection, glaucoma can cause permanent vision loss and even blindness in only a few years.
What is glaucoma?
To maintain healthy vision, the human eye regulates pressure by draining excess fluid. When that fluid doesn’t drain properly, it increases pressure in the eye and can cause irreparable damage to the optic nerve. This condition, glaucoma, can lead to blindness without early detection.
Is there a cure?
No, but glaucoma is controllable. That’s why early detection is so important. Anyone can get glaucoma, but you’ll need a complete eye exam, with a glaucoma check, if: You’re over age 40, have a family history of glaucoma, have diabetes, use steroids, are of African-American, Asian or Hispanic descent or have suffered an eye injury.
What is microinvasive glaucoma surgery?
Lowering, and stabilizing, fluid pressure inside the eye is the only established method to treat glaucoma. Microinvasive glaucoma surgery is the generic term that describes minimally (as in micro) invasive procedures, often done during cataract surgery, that drain fluid from the eye.
Ophthalmologic surgeons can choose from several types of valves and tubes that, when placed in the eye, drain fluid. The Hartford Hospital Eye Surgery Center expects to add two technologies approved for 2017 use by the Food and Drug Administration.
CyPass
CyPass, a micro-stent implant, treats mild to moderate cases of open-angle glaucoma – the most common type, where the drain meshwork looks normal even though fluid does not flow out properly – and the Xen gel implant is designed for patients who can’t tolerate eye drops used to treat glaucoma.
ORA-Guided Advanced Cataract Surgery
Cataract surgery used to be about preventing blindness. But with today’s sophisticated cataract removal systems, premium intraocular lenses, and guidance from the ORA System®, your surgeon can return your vision to the way it was years ago.
How the ORA System Works
The ORA System guides your surgeon by ensuring that the intraocular lenses being placed during cataract surgery are perfectly placed. A perfect placement means a better visual outcome.
ORA-guided cataract surgery also helps tailor results. During your procedure, your surgeon takes measurements of your eye and makes necessary adjustments to refine your visual outcome.
It used to be that your surgeon needed to wait weeks after your procedure to determine your vision results. Now, with ORA, your surgeon can determine your visions results after surgery sooner than ever before.
When you undergo cataract surgery, you want the best results. The addition of the ORA System will help you achieve the most optimal outcome.
The Eye Surgery Center already has completed its first cases using the ORA System, with VerifEye.