Selective laser trabeculoplasty for glaucoma == what is it like?

Light flashes: Your ophthalmologist or glaucoma specialist uses this device to administered an moderately intense laser beam to the drainage sites of the eye (meshwork) to cause them to transmit fluid better and lower the internal eye pressure. It is usually painless, rapid and the response follows quickly.

Brief and painless: Slt selectively targets pigment cells in the trabecular meshwork triggering an inflammatory response which recruits macrophages to clean out the meshwork increasing flow and thereby lowering intraocular pressure. The energy used is 1/5000 less than used in the original argon laser trabeculoplasty preventing inadvertant damage to the meshwork's structure which could eventually decrease outflow.