Quality of life in glaucoma patients after selective laser trabeculoplasty

AIM: To compare quality of life and treatment satisfaction between patients who had selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) and those on medication. METHODS: A prospective clinical trial on 143 glaucoma patients that received SLT and a control group that continued using anti glaucoma medication was conducted. Tear break-up time (BUT), punctuate keratitis, need for help, use of artificial tears and the treatment satisfaction survey of intraocular pressure (IOP) were measured at baseline, 6 and 12mo. RESULTS: SLT was able to reduce the mean number of medications needed from 1.56 +/- 0.81 to 0.42 +/- 0.66 at six months and to 0.33 +/- 0.69 at one year. Punctuate keratitis was observed significantly less often (12.24%) after SLT than before (35.94%; P=0.03). Use of artificial tears and BUT did not change significantly after SLT (P > 0.05). At baseline, patients in the SLT group were significantly less convinced of medication effectiveness (P=0.006) and complained more about side effects (P=0.003). After SLT, these patients had significantly more confidence in their therapy (P < 0.001), showed less side effects (P=0.006), complained less about changes in appearance of the eyes (P=0.003) and were less inconvenienced by the use of eye drops (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: SLT is able to improve treatment-related quality of life in glaucoma patients.