Eyeworld

EW GLAUCOMA 78 September 2014 Dr. Berdahl said physicians should stress to patients that they will not know what the pressure settles to until about 2–3 months after surgery after the steroid effect has worn off and the eye returns to its natural physiological state. Make sure the patient knows the surgeon will help manage the pressure in the meantime. There are many benefi ts of the iStent to share with patients. "It is making the treatment of glauco- ma much easier and much more enjoyable, but more importantly, it's providing a real benefi t for a lot of patients who have cataract and glaucoma," Dr. Berdahl said. "We are now in an age where we have so many different surgical options in glaucoma," Dr. Rhee said. "The challenging part as practi- tioners is we have to learn a lot of different things." Practitioners now have the option to personalize care for glaucoma patients. "The limitation is that we're still relying on very invasive procedures to achieve our greatest effectiveness and greatest amount of pressure reduction," he said. "We don't yet have that perfect device that marries high effectiveness with low risk." However, Dr. Rhee noted that each new generation of devices comes closer to overcoming these limitations. EW Editors' note: Dr. Berdahl has fi nancial interests with Glaukos. Dr. Rhee has fi nancial interests with Glaukos and Ivantis. Contact information Berdahl: john.berdahl@vancethompsonvision.com Rhee: dougrhee@aol.com "One of the things that's im- portant to educate the patient on before and after surgery is that the pressure isn't going to be lowered immediately," he said. In the early postoperative period, the pressure may fl uctuate, which can be from a number of factors, including re- tained viscoelastic, small hyphema, or because a glaucomatous eye can be labile in the postoperative period. Counseling patients continued from page 77 6TH ANNUAL The Ophthalmology Innovation Summit was created to facilitate meaningful interactions and business partnerships between physicians, entrepreneurs, investors and industry executives who are driving ophthalmic innovation. OIS addresses key issues – both hurdles and opportunities while showcasing the most promising private ophthalmic companies. WWW.OIS.NET 2013 Attendee Demographics UNITING OVER 800 LEADERS in the Development of Ground-Breaking Ophthalmic Technologies CHICAGO, IL OCTOBER 16, 2014 PALMER HOUSE, HILTON 5% 10% 30% 20% 35% Physicians Finance/Investment Industry/Corporate Executives Private Ophthalmic Companies Press/Media Dr. Berdahl tells patients: "It adds a bit of time onto the surgery, but studies show that it is as safe as cataract surgery by itself. We don't have to make any new incisions, and if it were my eye and I had cataracts and glaucoma, there is no doubt that this is what I would do."

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