Glaucoma is a difficult and painful condition. The disease starts out as elevated pressure inside the eyeball. When eyes are in healthy condition, fluid is produced in the eye that circulates around and eventually drains near the edge of the cornea.

But for the 100,000 Americans who are diagnosed each year with glaucoma, that drainage is blocked, and the increased pressure pushes on and damages the optic nerve at the back of the eye. Usually glaucoma can be controlled with medication. Sometimes laser treatment is needed to reopen the drainage channels: but some people aren't helped by any of those treatments.

Now a new device developed in Israel is providing hope and relief for glaucoma sufferers who have been previously dismissed as untreatable. Optonol's Ex-Press shunt is an effective, long-term alternative to traditional glaucoma surgery and can significantly improve the quality of life of glaucoma patients by providing possible relief from life-long dependency on drug therapy.

The FDA-approved shunt is a miniature glaucoma drainage device, just the tiny spike at the end of the needle. A simple, short procedure inserts the shunt at the edge of the colored part of the eye, the limbus. The microscopic conduit drains excess fluid out of the eye and into the tissues surrounding the eye, where it can`t do any harm. The pressure reduction brings down the pain level and reduces the patient's need for medications to relieve that pain.[...]