Selective Light Therapy (SLT) is not something that has been in the minds of most people out there for very long. Being an extremely recent phenomenon, the main reason why it has been brought into the public limelight is that, many medical experts have realised its sheer effectiveness with regard to the treatment of glaucoma. However, one also needs to keep in mind the fact that when it comes down to glaucoma, there are a plethora of natural treatments and medicines that doctors swear by. Unfortunately, it has been proven that some of those medications may not be as useful as previously thought.
Having said that, even when other medicines and natural treatments do not work, doctors have been hesitant to consider surgery as an option. Since medications were safe and tested, doctors would prefer recommending that than going for SLT which most experts tended to have certain reservations about since it was such a new concept. Most of all, they were afraid of any unknown or unintended consequences that they would have to deal with after the treatment. However, that has changed in the past few years due to the knowledge of SLT and its benefits. Whether you are looking for a service with a SLT laser or an SLT laser for sale, that is a fact.
Without any further ado, let us take a good look at the five main reasons why SLT is a good idea for you:-
- Studies have revealed that laser therapy is the best option before medications, if any: When it comes to long-term outcomes, most patients have had much better results with surgery than with other kinds of medications. Even those who had to do a preliminary laser test followed by medications ended up faring better overall.
- Starting with SLT is more likely to help you avoid the side effects of later medications: Dry eye is one of the primary issues of using eye drop medications due to the preservatives contained in the drop. However, in the case of laser operation, there are no such complications that one has to deal with.
- The aspect of poor drop compliance: Studies have shown that most patients end up using their drops only 50% as often as prescribed. Sometimes it is 75%, but an ideal situation would be if they ended up using their drops 100% of the time. Also, a lot of the times, they fail to get them properly into the eye while using the drops. However, with SLT, there is no reliance on patients to administer medication. .
- With regard to SLT, the patients do not see themselves as sick: Most people do not understand the fact that the process of putting drops in on a daily basis can end up being a depressing daily reminder that one is suffering from an eye disease. By undergoing a laser operation, patients are substantially relieved of that burden.
- SLT is most effective when used for the first time: One cannot deny the fact that the sheer efficacy of SLT ends up going down if the patient is already on a substantial number of medications. SLT will be the most effective for an eye that has not received any sort of drops or medications. Not only do the patients have nothing to lose by trying it out for the first time, but there is also the fact that it has been proven to be more effective in the long run.
At the end of the day, there are many new SLT techniques that are in the process of being developed ensuring that glaucoma patients will have things much easier for them in the near future. If anything, this does indicate that there is considerable scope for cutting-edge breakthroughs in due time.
In this field, one can definitely state that the future does look promising. Plus, newer SLT treatments will also mean that patients across the board will have to deal with much less post-treatment discomfort than ever before.
