Professor Gazzard led the world’s largest, pivotal and highly influential study proving laser can be safely and effectively used for newly diagnosed open angle glaucoma patients: Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT)
Results of a pioneering research study, funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and led by Professor Gus Gazzard have established the effectiveness of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT) as an effective treatment for Glaucoma and Ocular Hypertension (OHT).
The treatment could allow patients to remain drop free for a significant length of time and possibly reduce the burden of drops on patients who are already using eyedrops to control their eye pressures.
The SLT Procedure and How it Works! Here is what patients can expect during the simple and painless SLT procedure that usually takes less than 15 minutes.
Anaesthetic eyedrops are administered in the eye that is being treated to numb the surface of the eye. The drops take between 10-15 seconds to work. The patient then rests their chin on the chin rest and head against the bar, similar to the slit lamp instrument that is used to examine the eyes.
The surgeon then positions a lens on the patient’s eye and painlessly applies the Laser to the affected eye’s trabecular meshwork. The treatment allows the fluid inside the eye to drain from the eye more readily and thereby relieve the ocular pressure that causes Glaucoma. The recovery period is minimal with most patients returning to normal life the day after treatment.
NEWS: Professor Gus Gazzard publishes ground breaking research
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Dissemination Centre has published an NIHR Signal on Mr. Gazzard’s research. You can view the Signal here: A laser eye procedure can be effective and safe if used early as a treatment for glaucoma
The prestigious medical journal The Lancet published results from a pioneering research study, funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and led by Professor Gus Gazzard, consultant ophthalmologist and Glaucoma Service Director at Moorfields Eye Hospital.
The results of the three-year trial showed that using laser-based treatment on newly diagnosed cases of glaucoma was more successful and more cost-effective than the current method of using intraocular pressure lowering eye drops. There was also less need for treatment to be escalated and there was a reduced need for both glaucoma surgery and cataract extractions compared with patients who received the eye drops.
The results could potentially improve the way glaucoma is treated across the world and, if the treatment proves to be as effective with patients who have had the condition for some time, could save the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds a year.
In this video, Professor Gus Gazzard reflects on his pioneering glaucoma research with Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT)
If you’d like to know more about this and other treatments available for Glaucoma, or think that you may benefit from a consultation, please get in touch here.