CIME 2024: Choosing appropriate glaucoma technology based on patient needs

At the Controversies in Modern Eye Care meeting on May 4, 2024, Melissa Tawa, OD, FAAO, participated in 2 glaucoma panels: one reviewed glaucoma case studies and their other tackled surgical interventions and appropriate patient populations for technologies. Here Tawa shares some pearls from the talks.

Video transcript

Editor's note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Melissa Tawa, OD, FAAO:

Hi, I'm Dr. Melissa Tawa. I'm an optometrist and I work at the Southern California College of Optometry, Marshall B. Ketchum University. And this morning I talked with Dr. Paul Singh and we did a case series on glaucoma talking about some different cases that optometrists might encounter. Talking about some different pearls, particularly in OCT [and] visual field interpretation, things like corneal hysteresis, and really how we can manage these patients to not only control their disease but also in controlling their quality of life. Since we know that glaucoma medications, glaucoma procedures, have a lot of impact on their quality of life and drop burden, you know, what are some ways that we can try to improve not only patient's disease, but again, the way that they're able to interact with things that they do on a daily basis?

And this afternoon, I am participating in a glaucoma panel talking about particularly drug delivery systems, so things like Durysta and the iDose TR, which are ways that patients can hopefully reduce their need for medications. And we will also be discussing some MIGS surgeries as well, minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries, to also try to improve patient compliance and stepping away from topical medications to other ways that we control patients IOP that relieve their drop burden.