Samuel D. McPherson

Goniotomy vs external trabeculotomy for developmental glaucoma.

We compared external trabeculotomy and goniotomy in similar groups of patients with developmental glaucoma. External trabeculotomy was statistically more successful as a first operation (19 of 23 eyes, 83%) than goniotomy (eight of 24 eyes, 33%) (P = .003). With multiple operations both procedures controlled intraocular pressure in most patients but more operations were required after goniotomy (31 procedures in 12 eyes) than after external trabeculotomy (13 procedures in eight eyes) than after occurred within one year of surgery (six of eight failures with external trabeculotomy and 20 of 23 failures with goniotomy).

Preoperative use of the Honan Intraocular Pressure Reducer

After administering a retrobulbar injection of anesthesia, we applied the Honan intraocular pressure reducer at a pressure of 30 mm Hg for five minutes to 48 nonglaucomatous eyes and eight glaucomatous eyes undergoing cataract extraction. This technique resulted in mean intraocular pressure reductions of 6.52 mm Hg in the nonglaucomatous eyes (P less than .001) and 10.13 mm Hg (P = .013) in the glaucomatous eyes. These results were comparable to those achieved by using the same device for 40 or more minutes.