Surgery isn’t usually the first step to treat glaucoma, but it may save your eyesight if other treatments don’t work.

Glaucoma is pressure inside your eye, like a basketball being overinflated. Fluid in your eye can’t drain out the way it should. This can damage the optic nerve inside your eye and harm your vision

What Are the Kinds of Surgery?

Doctors may try laser surgery first. You can get the treatments in your doctor’s office or at a clinic. You’ll be able to go home after the procedure and get back to your normal routine by the next day. The laser is a beam of intense light. It’s aimed at your eye to help open clogged tubes and drain fluid. It can take a few weeks to see the full results.

What Are the Laser Treatments?

Here are some types of laser surgery for glaucoma:

Argon laser trabeculoplasty (ALT): This opens clogs in your eye so fluid can drain out. Your doctor may treat half of the clogs first, see how well it works, then treat the other half later. ALT works in about 75% of people with the most common kind of glaucoma.

Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT): If ALT doesn’t work so well, your doctor may try this. Your doctor beams a highly targeted low-level laser at just the spots where there’s pressure. You can do SLT a little at a time.

Laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI): If the space between your eye’s iris (the colored part) and cornea (the clear outer layer) is too small, you can get narrow-angle glaucoma. Fluid and pressure build up in this area. LPI uses a laser beam to create a tiny hole in the iris. The extra fluid can drain and relieve pressure.

Cyclophotocoagulation: If other laser treatments or surgery doesn't ease fluid buildup and pressure, your doctor can try this. He’ll beam a laser into a structure inside your eye to ease pressure. You may need to repeat it over time to keep your glaucoma in check.

What Can You Expect From Laser Surgery?

You can usually have laser surgery in your doctor’s office or an outpatient eye clinic. The doctor will numb your eyes. You shouldn’t feel much or even any pain during the treatment. You might notice a slight sting or burn.

While you lie still, your doctor will hold a special lens up to your eye, then aim the laser at the exact spot where you need treatment. It may look like a very quick, bright flash.

After Laser Surgery

Your eyesight may be a little blurry right after the treatment. It may feel a little sore, too. In a couple of hours, the doctor will check your eye pressure. You’ll need someone to drive you home after the surgery.

You may need to stay on your medications after laser surgery to keep your eye pressure under control.

What Are Some Other Types of Surgery for Glaucoma?

If laser surgery or drugs don’t relieve your eye pressure, you may need a more traditional operation. You might have to go into the hospital or surgery center, and you’ll probably need a few weeks to heal and recover.

These procedures include:

Trabeculectomy: The surgeon will make a small cut in the white part of your eye to take out some of the mesh of tissue inside. This helps the extra fluid drain out. You may need to take some medicine along with this surgery so scar tissue doesn’t form. The procedure can be done in your doctor’s office or an outpatient clinic.

Drainage implant surgery: The doctor places a tiny tube inside your eye so fluid can drain.

Electrocautery: In this procedure, the surgeon uses a heat device called a Trabectome to make a tiny cut in your eye’s drainage tubes. It sends heat to the mesh of tissue inside your eye. It can ease fluid buildup and pressure. It’s not as invasive as trabeculectomy or drainage implant surgery.

What Can You Expect?

You’ll get drugs to numb your eye and relax you. You shouldn’t feel any pain. You may feel really drowsy during the operation. After surgery, you’ll rest at home for about a week. Don’t drive, read, bend over, or lift anything heavy for up to 4 weeks. Keep water out of your eye. Your eye may be red, sore, or watery. You may also see a little bump where the cut was made.

Your vision might be a little blurry for about 6 weeks. Contact lenses may not fit until the bump or swelling goes down. About half of people who get this surgery no longer need medications to keep pressure down.