​Cataract surgery and Trabeculectomy

Trabeculectomy, when it is combined with cataract surgery, is done to patients suffering from serious glaucoma to lower the eye pressure. A small opening or flap is created in the white of the eye and a bleb, which is a bubble like pocket is also created in the white part of eye. The bleb is created so as to observe the excess fluid draining out of the eye and lowering eye pressure.

Glaucoma and cataract surgery shunt procedure:

During this procedure the eyes is cloudy lens is removed and it is replaced with an artificial one by the ophthalmologist. A tiny and plastic tube known as shunt is placed under the clear and thin membrane which covers the white part of eye. This helps to lower the eye pressure and sends the blocked fluid back to a small plastic plate, which is kept by the surgeon near the eye wall. The blood vessels nearby absorb the fluid.

MIGS is a type of new glaucoma procedure which does not require much cutting of the eye. It is also known as microinvasive glaucoma surgery and can be combined with cataract surgery for patient having cataract ranging from mild to moderate. A small incision is made and the cataract is removed.

However this surgery is not prescribed for everyone as cataract does not cause any vision problem sometime, but the glaucoma has to be treated immediately. In this case the cataract surgery can be delayed to a later time. In some other cases the glaucoma can be controlled without a surgery, but the cataract surgery has to be done immediately for a clear vision. In this situation, it is better to do cataract surgery alone. Patient having narrow or closed angle glaucoma along with cataract suffer from raised eye pressure and when the cataract is removed pressure gets improved without the need for a surgery for glaucoma.