Minor Injuries: Seeking Treatment in a Timely Manner

If you have recently been diagnosed with glaucoma, you may be equally surprised and confused about the diagnosis. However, rather than let yourself feel overwhelmed with the prospect of having glaucoma and all that the disease entails, it is important to focus on treating your newly diagnosed eye condition. The quicker you go about treating your glaucoma, the better your chances of pushing back the long-term effects of glaucoma on your sight so that you can see well for as long as possible going forward. Get to know some of the different treatment options for your glaucoma so that you can work with your eye doctors to get started right away.

Prescription Medicated Eye Drops

One of the most common treatment options for glaucoma is the regular use of prescription medicated eye drops. These eye drops are designed to control and relieve the pressure that builds up in the eyes (known as intraocular pressure or IOP). In turn, the reduction in pressure helps to keep the optic nerve free to function properly, which preserves sight. 

Prescription eye drops will reduce pressure by preventing fluid buildup and/or aiding in proper fluid drainage from the eye. In general, an eye doctor will ask a person to use these prescription eye drops once or twice daily and will have you come in after a few months to assess whether or not the eye drops are helping you with your glaucoma symptoms.

Glaucoma Surgery

Surgery is another treatment option for a person who is suffering from glaucoma. Glaucoma eye surgery is another means of relieving IOP as it occurs with glaucoma. It is a treatment option that is often recommended for patients who have adverse side effects to the glaucoma eye drops that are prescribed or whose eyes do not seem to respond significantly to the drops.

There are numerous different surgical procedures that can be used for glaucoma. The exact method depends on the exact specifications of your glaucoma. If there are sufficient drains for the fluid in the eyes that are wide enough to properly drain fluid, laser surgery procedures can help to simply create tiny holes in the tissues of the eye to allow those drains to function better. if the drainage passageways are narrow or blocked, surgery may focus instead on creating new artificial drain ports for the fluid in your eyes so that it does not build up and cause pressure.

Future Possibilities with Stem Cell Exosomes

In addition to current glaucoma treatments, it is also important to know what may be available to help you with your eye problems in the future. Stem cells have shown great potential to help treat glaucoma in clinical trials using rats. Specifically, researchers have tested stem cell exosomes, which are essentially cells that are secreted by stem cells.

The exosomes showed the potential to reduce cell loss in the eyes that leads to vision loss in glaucoma and other eye disorders. This could lead the way to newer and better treatments for glaucoma and other eye disorders that have far fewer side effects and are much more effective than other current treatment options

By knowing these treatment options for your glaucoma, you can be sure that you are getting the best possible treatment for your glaucoma.