Is treating glaucoma traditionally an invasive surgery?
Dr. Siegfried: We start out with less invasive methods. The most common way of treating glaucoma is with drops — topical medications, which are very effective in most patients. Some patients either do not respond well to the drops or don’t tolerate them, or for other reasons cannot take the drops, be it cost, etcetera, then we need to look for other options. Laser is another option, which is a simple office procedure in most cases. Then we take a little bit more invasive steps. In general, that has been traditional glaucoma surgery where we make a new drain for the eye that redirects fluid that’s building up pressure inside the eye and directs it through another pathway to the tissues around the eye to lower pressure. How long is the recovery time from that procedure? Dr. Siegfried: In general, it’s several weeks of recovery. There are risks of the procedure. It’s a surgery that’s done in the operating room with an incision. There are short and long-term risks of infection, but it has
