Glaucoma Drainage Tube
Figure. A glaucoma drainage implant allows fluid to drain from inside the eye out through a tube and into a plate.
A glaucoma drainage implant is a shunt used to lower your eye pressure. The shunt consists of two parts: a small tube and a plate. The small tube is inserted into your eye and enables fluid to drain out. The plate is attached to the tube and placed beneath the conjunctiva to form a reservoir where the fluid will drain, known as a bleb. This allows the fluid to bypass your eye’s natural drain, which does not work in glaucoma, thereby effectively reducing eye pressure.
Glaucoma drainage implants have traditionally been reserved for patients with severe uncontrolled glaucoma who have failed trabeculectomy surgery or those with a high likelihood of trabeculectomy failure. The surgery takes around 1 hour and is usually performed under general anaesthesia.
Dr Yun is an expert in the insertion of both valved (Ahmed) and non-valved (Baerveldt) glaucoma drainage implants.