Tucson Eye Care

Dr. Laurence Kaye is one of Tucson’s Glaucoma Specialists, having received fellowship training at Mount Sinai Hospital (Cleveland, Ohio) and an additional preceptorship at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston.

As a result of his training and experience, many community ophthalmologists, optometrists, and internists refer their more challenging cases to Tucson Eye Care for evaluation and management.

Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve and is characterized by a change in the appearance of the nerve with a corresponding loss of peripheral vision. While there are many risk factors associated with the disease, the most common is an elevation of the eye pressure. For this reason, in most cases, our treatment is aimed at lowering the eye pressure to a safe range so that the disease does not get any worse. The ideal pressure for each eye varies and is determined by following the course or progression of the disease with several examinations over time.

Diagnostic Tools

In addition to a thorough clinical examination, we are fortunate to have the full spectrum of glaucoma diagnostic equipment in our office. These include:

ultrasonic pachymetry - corneal thickness measurements
stereo optic nerve head photography
Heidelberg retinal tomography – 3D optic nerve head imaging
Humphrey visual field testing- the advanced software allows the test to be done in a few minutes per eye in most cases
OCT – ocular coherence tomography – this is another method of evaluating glaucoma based on nerve fiber layer analysis

Treatment

If the need for treatment is established, our first option is to use glaucoma drops. Up to four classes of glaucoma drops are currently favored in our practice. The choice of the ideal regimen is personalized for each patient and each eye based on the effectiveness of the drug, the frequency of administration, and the safety profile.

SLT – Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty

The SLT laser represents the newest, safest way to improve pressure control. It is effective in 70% of patients and often decreases or eliminates the need for medications or delays the need for surgery. It is very safe, with the major risk being a transient elevation in eye pressure in rare cases.

Glaucoma Surgery

The results of our glaucoma surgery (trabeculectomy) reveal that we are able to control eye pressure in 85% of our patients with one operation. While the results are good, we are constantly evaluating other options and methods to treat glaucoma as they become available to us.

Dr. Kaye has pioneered a technique where glaucoma surgery is performed without a numbing injection behind the eye. This painless procedure is done with numbing drops and a small injection on the surface of the eye. This innovation adds a measure of safety to the procedure and has yielded an 85% success rate. We have presented the results of our procedure at an International Ophthalmic meeting in May 2000.

Surgery

In the rare situation where trabeculectomy surgery is not effective or indicated, Seton surgery with a BaerVeldt glaucoma valve or cycloablation with a DIODE laser are other options we will consider.

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