Re: Help! Glaucoma is out of control now & meds made me sick with side effects!

I initially had laser surgery - the doc poked holes in my eye's drainage system and while that didn't bring it down completely, it did come down from 45 in each eye to about 22 - 24.  After that I used drops for a while that brought the pressure into the 16 - 17 area but yes there were side effects to those beta blockers.  Now my ophthalmologist is going without eye drop treatment and my pressure is at the 21 - 21 level and he is saying that he doesn't want to do any more medication but to just watch the optic nerve and see how it's doing and there has been no change in the three years since I dropped the meds.

A final solution if you still have pressure and have side effects is to drill a hole in your eyes, that will get you off of meds and lower your pressure at the same time.

Be aware too that often times one's elevated blood pressure and glaucoma are related so the better you can control your BP the better you can control your glaucoma.

http://www.glaucoma.org/treatment/surgery-overview.php

Conventional Surgery

In contrast, conventional surgery (filtering microsurgery) involves creating a drainage hole with the use of a small surgical tool. This new opening allows the intraocular fluid to bypass the clogged drainage canals and flow out of this new, artificial drainage canal.

When laser surgery does not successfully lower eye pressure, or the pressure begins to rise again, the doctor may recommend conventional surgery. If necessary, glaucoma surgery can be done several times without substantial risk.