Laser Peripheral Iridotomy: Tips and Tricks (Malik Y. Kahook, MD) 

Be very careful and Always ask about other options . The side effects are devastating and irreversible. Doctors won’t tell you that. I asked about risks and side effects and my doctor assured me that it’s a safe procedure and the only risk is not doing it . Also told me the ONLY side effect is some temporary blurring due to the drops they use. I asked several times is that all . Nothing else bad could happen . He said no nothing bad will happen. It’s been a month since my procedure and I have blurred vision, hazy vision, double vision, huge glare issues , flashes of light , i can’t see without glasses now and I had great vision before this iridotomy. I also can not go out into the sunlight without sun glasses . I did not have Glacoma before this procedure but I now Have high eye pressure problems , drainage problems. Been rushed to the Hospital ER TWICE. For the eye attacks that can make you go blind . These problems do not go away . These weird white lines in my vision. It also caused cateracts to develop rapidly in my eyes . Daily headaches , eye pain . The trauma is severe and it’s not a rare side effect like they try to tell you. . These complications are very common . I now have to have surgery to try to help save my eyes . I’m not trying to scare you I’m just saying Please be very careful if you decide to do this. I’ve looked up reviews , spoke to others that had this only one person out of 100 had no problems the other 99 have damage . Either some or all of the complications I mentioned .

@@AutumnRain1111 I'm truly sorry for your troubles, Eileen. I hope things work out for you. I'm in excellent hands, thanks.

@@AutumnRain1111 Do you really believe that 99 out of 100 patients have "damage" but eye docs still do this procedure anyway? Hope you get better.

@@AutumnRain1111 you are claiming to have 13 different (each one rare) permanent visual problems?

@@AutumnRain1111 Hi , how are you feel now after two months.? Any improvement? I have a health eyes no glaucoma , only a high pressure in eyes but the doctor said to me that I have got a narrow ângulo and to prevent to have an primary closure attack he said I have to do this laser irodotomy . I have my doubts to have it done in my eyes . I have been searching as much I can but all the eye website out there even scientists study is no clear about the complications. I’m based in London and they want to do this in the hospital . However I’m still not confident to do this .

There are a couple of things that can be done depending on how bothersome it is...this ranges from the surgical (closing the holes and making a new one elsewhere) to doing something like a corneal tattoo which blocks light entering the hole. Often times, the symptoms go away on their own after a few months, but a year is a long time and you should discuss options with your surgeon if the symptoms are really bothering you.

I am in the same situation and appreciate you bringing up the possibility of replacing the hole. My current issue is with holes positioned superiorly, causing significant dysphotopsia with multiple white lines. I plan to wait a year to assess my tolerance. At the moment it has already started to impact my daily routine, particularly when working on the computer. I am thinking about to ask my eye doctors to close my holes and put it to a more favorable position. (3 and 9 temporal, as far much away from my eye lids) I have wide angle glaucoma and the blockage only happened with fully dilated pupil. In normal condition the IOP fluctuates in a normal range. A gonioscope examination revealed that the angles are open, but some parts appear closed. (since i diagnosed with glaucoma and examed with gonioscope mayn times, everybody said it was opened) I am wondering if another viable option could involve closing the hole and using Pilocarpine during the nights. Your insights on this matter would be greatly appreciated.@@malikkahook9368

The key in this situation is to make a fairly large PI due to the higher rate of reclosure. Inferior location between 5 and 7 o'clock is best. It is always preferable to do this with a vitrector at the time of surgery because you can get a bigger PI opening more efficiently. My approach is from the posterior part of the iris with the vitrector..aspirate then cut. It is a very controlled manuever. I hope this helps.