Interventional glaucoma treatment shows benefits over topical therapy for ocular surface health
Key Takeaways
- Stent-treated eyes had a significant reduction in medication use, unlike control eyes on topical therapy.
- Objective ocular surface measures (redness and staining) improved significantly only in stent-treated eyes.
- Patient-reported dry eye symptoms (OSDI and SPEED II) showed meaningful improvement after stent implantation.
Interventional glaucoma treatment with trabecular micro-bypass stent implantation was associated with improved ocular surface outcomes and reduced medication burden compared with continued topical therapy, according to a study.
In this single-center study, patients with bilateral mild-to-moderate open-angle glaucoma underwent implantation of an iStent inject in one eye (n = 28), while the fellow eye continued topical intraocular pressure-lowering medications (n = 28).
At 6 months, medication use significantly decreased in stent-treated eyes (from 1.9 ± 1.0 to 0.4 ± 0.6; P < 0.001), while no significant change was observed in control eyes (from 1.5 ± 0.9 to 1.4 ± 0.8; P = 0.168). Stent-treated eyes showed significant improvements in keratograph bulbar redness and Oxford ocular surface staining scores, whereas control eyes did not. Improvements in these parameters were significantly greater in the treated eyes.
Patient-reported outcomes also improved in the intervention group. Ocular Surface Disease Index scores decreased from 18.4 ± 16.4 to 9.3 ± 8.9 (P = 0.007), and Standard Patient Evaluation of Eye Dryness II scores decreased from 8.0 ± 7.8 to 4.5 ± 4.1 (P = 0.005).
Reference
Gundersen KG, Gundersen M, Nilsen C, et al. Ocular Surface Changes and Glaucoma: A Prospective Contralateral Study of IOP-Reducing Eyedrops versus iStent Inject Surgery. Clin Ophthalmol. 2026;20:568150. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S568150. PMID: 41858985; PMCID: PMC12998683.
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