GLAUCOMA ASSOCIATED WITH UVEITIES

Glaucoma is an increasingly important cause of blindness as the world's population ages. Statistics gathered by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2002 showed that glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide, after cataracts. However, glaucoma presents perhaps an even greater public health challenge than cataracts because the blindness it causes is irreversible. Therefore, WHO officials are looking for ways to address the problems glaucoma causes.

In the United States alone, glaucoma has been diagnosed in more than 2 million people, who are at risk of becoming blind.

Glaucoma is statistically linked to elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), which is thought to be due to decreased flow of fluid (aqueous humor) from the eye. Treatments for decreasing IOP focus on either reducing the production of aqueous humor or on increasing the ability of the aqueous humor to drain from the eye. Treatments for reducing fluid production include the use of drugs to inhibit the production and the destruction of the ciliary processes that produce aqueous humor. These treatments are often ineffective at controlling IOP over many years.

Surgical techniques may be used to increase drainage. These techniques include using lasers (laser trabeculectomy) to treat the trabecular meshwork (the main drainage passageway), implanting artificial drainage valves, and surgically cutting additional passageways to drain the fluid. The image below depicts the traditional filtering surgery.

Risks associated with these surgical procedures include infection, cataracts, bleeding, and hypotony. Even if the surgery is initially successful, scarring may close the drainage channels at the surface layers in the course of months to years.