Novel Methods for Treating Glaucoma
Researchers at Pitt present a new approach for preventing and treating glaucoma, by modulating the biomechanics of ocular tissues using laser irradiation. The goal is to improve the mechanical environment for the neural tissues in the back of the eye, offering an alternative to existing methods that primarily focus on stiffening the tissues.
Description
Previous methods for reducing the mechanical insult to the nerve fibers have primarily centered on stiffening the tissues of the back of the eye, specifically the sclera, using viral vectors and chemical agents, which have major complications. In contrast, this new method aims to modulate and route the forces and deformations by combining stiffening and softening to improve the mechanical environment for the neural tissues without the need for viruses or chemical agents. This proposed method represents an entirely new strategy for treating and preventing glaucoma, as all previous methods have been based solely on stiffening. This technology is a noel method for modulating the biomechanics of the tissues in the back of the eye to improve the resilience of the eye and to prevent or slow down pathology, particularly in the context of glaucoma. The proposed method involves using laser irradiation to induce changes in the collagen, which in turn affects the tissue mechanics. This photomodulation can be controlled to produce tissue stiffening or softening, with the former being induced by short-duration low-energy laser radiation and the latter by longer-duration laser irradiation.Applications
• Ocular pathology• Glaucoma prevention
• Glaucoma treatment
• Myopia