Deb Ristvedt, do, moderated a session entitled Medicines, lasers and lifestylehighlighting the rapid development of glaucoma treatment paradigms in the annual meeting of cataracts of cataracts and refraction of the American Society 2025, which was held from April 25 to 28 in Los Angeles, California.
“This space is so exciting because it changes quickly and our state of mind changes,” said Ristvedt. “We are going for fewer drops. We go earlier in the corner. “
The session highlighted a change to previous intervention and longer -term control to minimize the loss of visual field. The progress of the administration of drugs was a central objective. Doug Rhee, MD, presented data on the sustained effects of drugs in the trabecular jersey, noting mechanisms that continue to act even beyond their expected duration. “We have drugs in terms of medication administration which now has more concentration in the eye and offer more stability in 24 hours a day,” said Ristvedt.
Laser therapy also experiences transformative developments. The discussion revised the impact of the light test on the positioning of the SLT as a first line treatment. However, new attention has been paid to the Direct SLT – a new generation modality delivering energy transmimbally in just 2.6 seconds. “It works through the limbus targeting the trabecular mesh … by obtaining the same results as the manual SLT,” said Ristvedt. A key advantage? It eliminates the need for a Gonio lens, improving both the patient’s experience and the surgeon’s ergonomics. “It looks less like our body. It looks like better configuration and better ergonomics.”
Finally, the session examined the lifestyle considerations – for patients and providers. “Our lifestyle is so important when we think of how we affect the quality of life,” said Ristvedt, highlighting the wider call of the session to sustainable glaucoma care and centered on the patient.