Hair-Sized Stent Offers Hope For Patients Suffering From Glaucoma

A tiny new device could help prevent a leading cause of blindness. The glaucoma implant is the size of a human hair, and was just approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Glaucoma is dangerous because it doesn’t cause symptoms until you’ve permanently lost vision and as CBS2’s Dr. Max Gomez reported, the device provides new hope for patients who aren’t helped by eye drops or surgery.

The condition is caused by too much fluid inside the eye, with the increased pressure damaging the optic nerve and leading to progressive vision loss.

Eugene Weise has had glaucoma in his left eye for 15 years. Since he’s an ophthalmologist, he knows how important it is to do something to lower the pressure in his eye to prevent permanent vision loss. It used to mean three different eye drops administered twice daily.

Read more at article source: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/01/10/tiny-device-prevents-glaucoma/