Abstract

Open angle glaucoma is the most common type of glaucoma in middle-aged and elderly patients. Lowering of IOP is still the most efficient way to prevent development and progression of glaucoma. IOP lowering could be achieved by the chronic use of hypotensive eyedrops, surgery or LTP. Medical therapy is most often utilized as initial management strategy to lower IOP in glaucoma patients. However, selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) and argon laser trabeculoplasty (ALT) can be preferred in patients with low compliance to or intolerance of medical therapy. LTP could be also an option before surgical treatment. The potential advantages of SLT over ALT are its selective targeting of pigmented trabecular cells with short pulses of low energy, which does not cause collateral damage and is therefore repeatable. Different clinical trials have revealed that in the eyes with OAG receiving maximally tolerated medical therapy, SLT was found
to be as effective as ALT in lowering IOP. SLT is therefore a more preferred method of treatment.