How is the Glaucoma Implant Surgery performed?
To implant the device, the surgeon first attaches the plate to the sclera (the sturdy white outer coat of the eye), usually in the upper outer portion under the upper eyelid. Next the little tube, almost like a tiny straw, is directed into the eye, usually into the anterior chamber, (the space just behind the cornea and in front of the iris), through a small hole. Depending upon the specific device implanted, sometimes the tube is actually tied shut with a stitch that dissolves in a few weeks, to keep the pressure from going too low right away. In some special circumstances, such as with Sturge-Weber glaucoma, the surgeon may even delay the placement of the tubing into the eye, placing the reservoir against the eye in the first surgery, then separately “connecting” the tube into the eye at a second later surgery. Next the tube is attached to the sclera so that is cannot easily move out of place, and then a protective patch of material (usually sterilized human sclera donated from the e
