title: Glaucoma triple procedures leaving the internal corneal valve intact to control induced astigmatism--theoretic considerations.
abstract: As glaucoma surgery increasingly tends to be performed in younger patients, stabilizing visual results by reducing the amount of surgically-induced astigmatism will become just as important as controlling intraocular pressure. I describe two glaucoma triple procedures involving small-incision cataract surgery in which, as contrasted with previous techniques, the internal cataract incision is separated from the trabeculectomy, theoretically reducing surgically-induced astigmatism. One method features a standard trabeculectomy with sutures in the scleral flap; the other, an ab externo trabeculectomy in which no sutures are used. The effectiveness of both these methods in actually reducing surgically-induced astigmatism, while controlling intraocular pressure (IOP), remains to be demonstrated, but the possibility that they might, seems well worth exploring.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Hjørring Hospital, Denmark.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Nielsen
mesh_terms: D001251:Astigmatism / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D007910:Lenses, Intraocular; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D013536:Suture Techniques; D014130:Trabeculectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*