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Treatment of advanced glaucoma
Author(s) -
BRON A
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2013.2222.x
Subject(s) - glaucoma , medicine , blindness , disease , intraocular pressure , treatment modality , modalities , ophthalmology , complication , intensive care medicine , optometry , surgery , social science , sociology
Abstract Glaucoma is still the second cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. One of the main reasons is that since glaucoma is a symptom‐free disease, at least 50% of glaucoma patients are not aware of their disease. Therefore it is not uncommon to see at the consultation advanced glaucoma cases even in the Western world. The management of these advanced cases is very challenging because if at best the treatment can stop the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) while lowering intraocular pressure (IOP), it will not prevent from the natural age‐related loss of RGCs. Therefore many of these patients will go blind even with a “successful” treatment. The modalities of the treatment are controversial because when surgery is indicated, the fear of the so‐called whipe‐out syndrome is well known among glaucoma surgeons. Recent papers have highlighted that this complication may occur but may be at a lower rate that previously thought. Fair information given to the patients by the ophthalmologist is probably at least as important as the treatments