Thursday, February 7, 2013

New Eye Treatment For Glaucoma Patients At St. Joe's

New technology for the treatment of glaucoma, which was bought with the proceeds from last summer's Dragon Boat Festival, being rolled out at St. Joseph's Hospital in the Eye Clinic. 

It's called the S-L-T machine or gentle laser and is a big improvement on what was used before. The S-L-T activates the pigment cells while the old laser treatment worked by punching holes and the gentler laser treatment can be repeated. 

It takes six weeks to get the full effect and with the new treatment, people who had been using eye drops on a daily basis will no longer have to do so. 

Dr. Chris Symonds says many people forget to take their drops on a daily basis or find it difficult and he warns damage from glaucoma is irreversible.