Glaucoma Filtering Surgery

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Aqueous Drainage Implant Surgery
In this type of surgery, an incision is made behind the upper eyelid, into the conjunctiva, which is the skin covering the surface of the eye. The conjunctiva is the part of the eye that turns red when your eye is irritated. Your doctor lifts this skin to expose the sclera, which is the wall of the eyeball. The doctor then attaches a plastic implant to the sclera (• See Photo). There is a tube attached to the implant. This tube is passed through a hole in the eye wall, or sclera, and positioned in the anterior chamber or vitreous cavity of the eye (• See Photo). Eye fluid exits the eye through this tube, and is collected by the implant attached to the sclera. From the implant, fluid is absorbed into the blood stream in the veins around the eye. Your doctor then closes the incision in the conjunctiva in order to cover the implant. The implant resides in position behind the eyelids.

After surgery, you must use eye drops that slow the natural healing response of the eye so that the holes your doctor created in the eye are not healed shut. When the healing is over, the eye drops are usually stopped.

A certain percentage of patients will experience a gradual increase in eye pressure in the months or years following glaucoma filtering surgery. These patients will start using eye drops again to lower the eye pressure, or may require repeat operations to lower the pressure.

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