Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve, which is often associated with high pressure inside the eye. UT Southwestern Medical Center offers patients individualized, leading-edge glaucoma treatment to stop the progression of this potentially blinding condition.

People at risk for glaucoma need a full medical eye exam by an ophthalmologist who can examine the inside of the eye. Our ophthalmic specialists use the latest diagnostic technologies to screen for glaucoma, including:

• Combined small-incision cataract/glaucoma surgery;
• Diode laser cyclophotocoagulation (CPC);
• Glaucoma tube shunt surgery;
• Heidelberg retinal tomography (HRT);
• Humphrey visual field analyzers;
• Lumenis selecta duet laser;
• Optical coherence tomography (OCT);
• Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT);
• Short wave-length automated perimetry (SWAP);
• Trabeculectomy with or without anti-metabolites; and
• Trabeculotomy (infantile glaucoma).

Once glaucoma is diagnosed, our physicians typically prescribe topical medication, which, in most cases, is effective. Other glaucoma treatments include laser surgery.

UT Southwestern’s Glaucoma Program created the Dallas Glaucoma Patient Database, unique in the U.S. It is used to follow all glaucoma patients treated at UT Southwestern, in order to establish long-term trends and collect demographic data about people with the disease.

Patients in UT Southwestern’s clinical trials program receive therapies years before they become available to the public. Patients should ask their doctor if they are candidates for some of these groundbreaking therapies.