Posted by: Associates in Ophthalmology (NJ) in Glaucoma
Most people picture glaucoma as a slow disease that steals your vision over many years. Angle-closure glaucoma can follow that slow path too, but it can also send eye pressure soaring within hours, resulting in rapid and permanent vision loss. Laser peripheral iridotomy, or LPI, is a quick in-office laser procedure that can prevent that emergency.
Keep reading to learn more about LPI for angle-closure glaucoma, and whether it could help protect your vision.
What Makes Angle-Closure Glaucoma So Dangerous?
Your eye constantly makes a clear fluid that flows from behind the iris, through the pupil, and out through a drainage angle where the iris meets the cornea. In some eyes, that angle is unusually narrow. Fluid gets trapped behind the iris, pushing it forward until it blocks the drain and raises pressure inside the eye.
When the angle closes gradually, it can damage the optic nerve with no symptoms. When it closes suddenly, it causes an acute attack, a true eye emergency. Warning signs include severe eye pain, sudden blurry vision, halos around lights, headache, and nausea. Anyone with these symptoms should contact an eye doctor right away, since vision lost to glaucoma cannot be restored.
How LPI Creates a New Path for Fluid
During LPI, your ophthalmologist uses a laser to make a tiny opening near the outer edge of the iris. This opening frees the fluid trapped behind the iris, so the iris stops bowing forward and crowding the drainage angle. Once that pressure is relieved, the angle can open, and fluid drains normally.
LPI targets the specific anatomy of angle-closure. Patients with open-angle glaucoma usually rely on other proven glaucoma treatments, like eye drops and laser trabeculoplasty, because their drainage angle is open but working poorly.
LPI also has a clear limit: it will not improve your vision. Its purpose is to preserve the sight you have and keep glaucoma from starting or getting worse.
Who Is a Good Candidate for LPI?
The Glaucoma Research Foundation notes that LPI is recommended for eyes with a closed angle across at least half the eye, along with high pressure or glaucoma. It may also be offered preventively to people with closed angles whose pressure and optic nerve are still healthy.
Narrow angles rarely cause symptoms, so most are found during a comprehensive eye exam that includes an assessment of the drainage angle. That’s why regular comprehensive eye exams matter: they can catch risks of eye conditions like angle-closure glaucoma before they affect your vision.
What to Expect Before and After LPI
About half an hour before your LPI procedure, you receive drops that constrict your pupil. Next, you receive numbing drops, and a special lens is placed on the eye to steady it and focus the laser. The treatment usually takes 5 to 10 minutes, and some patients feel brief, minor discomfort, but usually no pain.
Vision is often blurry for a short time afterward. The eye may feel red, light-sensitive, or irritated, and the pre-treatment drops can cause a mild headache. Your eye pressure is typically checked within 30 minutes to 2 hours, and most patients use anti-inflammatory drops for a few days.
A pressure rise, minor bleeding at the laser site, or inflammation can occur but usually fades. Occasionally, the opening closes and needs retreatment, and a small number of patients notice glare, light streaks, or double vision in the treated eye. For most people with narrow angles, the risk of a sight-threatening attack outweighs these uncommon risks.
Wondering whether your drainage angles are too narrow? Schedule an appointment at Associates in Ophthalmology in Livingston, NJ, today.
