Suggest Treatment For Severe Visual Impairment Caused By Glaucoma

Posted on Fri, 11 Jul 2014

Question: Glaucoma has damaged the optic nerve to the extent that my wife's vision is severely impaired. Is there such a thing as an optic nerve implant ? and would that have the possibility of restoring some vision? Thank you, XXXXXXX K Goodman

Answered by Dr. Dadapeer K (56 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
There is no optic nerve implant.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to Health care magic.

I am Dr. Dadapeer K an ophthalmologist and I answer health problems related to eyes.
I am sorry to hear that your wife has got severe visual impairment because of optic nerve damage caused by glaucoma.
As of now there is no optic nerve implant to restore vision caused by optic nerve damage.
Optic nerve is the only nerve in the body among all cranial nerves which cannot regenerates once gets damaged as it is more like a tract of the brain. Hence any damage caused by optic nerve damage is irreversible.

The next treatment option in your wife' s case is to assess the damage caused by glaucoma by performing visual field and reducing intraocular pressure by either use of anti glaucoma drugs or laser or surgery. Since glaucoma is often bilateral the other eye needs to be evaluated to assess and treatment glaucoma.

Hence as of now there are no optic nerve implants available to restore vision caused by optic nerve damage and she should take appropriate treatment to restore the remaining vision in the affected eye and to save vision in other eye.

Hope the information is helpful to you.

Thank you
With regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar