Lasers

Ohio Eyecare proudly presents:
SELECTA 7000 OPTHALMIC GLAUCOMA LASER

Ohio Eyecare Specialists is pleased to be 1 of 20 in the nation and in the state of Ohio to have and use this new and exciting technology.

The SELECTA 7000 is a new pulsed laser system for the treatment of chronic open angle glaucoma. Selection laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) is safe and effective and is not associated with systemic adverse affects. The beauty of this treatment compared to previous ones (argon laser trabeculoplasty or ALT) is that the laser only "touches" the areas of damaged tissue and does not cause scarring damage to the surrounding trabecular meshwork architecture.

Open angle glaucoma is a progressive degenerative disease in which the optic nerve is slowly destroyed, and affects more than 50 million people worldwide. If left unchecked, open angle glaucoma can result in total blindness. The only accepted treatment for open angle glaucoma is to lower intraocular pressure.

SLT lowers intraocular pressure by using short pulses of low energy laser light to target melanin containing cells in the trabecular meshwork (in the eye) which drains fluid from the eye, resulting in increased fluid outflow. This selective technique is much less traumatic to the eye than argon laser trabeculoplasty (ALT), the current laser procedure. ALT is limited primarily by its coagulative effect, which leads to scarring of the trabecular meshwork of the eye.

SLT results in a biological response, increasing aqueous outflow, to reduce IOP (intraocular pressure) WITHOUT incurring mechanical coagulative damage that leads to scarring.

SLT is based on selective photothermolysis confining thermally mediated damage to chosen pigmented targets, so no collateral tissue damage occurs.

SLT essentially opens up pigmented targets (diseased areas) chosen by the doctor, it does not BURN which causes scarring to other healthy tissue that surrounds the diseased areas. The newly opened (cleaned) area allows aqueous fluid to flow out and drain in the same manner as a normal eye without glaucoma. Remember, glaucoma destroys the ability for normal outflow of fluid causing a build-up of intraocular pressure (pressure in the eye), which destroys the optic nerve, thus diminishing vision at an insidious pace until blindness occurs, if left unchecked. SLT acts to prevent further damage caused by this fluid build-up. SLT cannot cure glaucoma, it serves to prevent further damage.