Hydrus microstent | Professor Gus Gazzard, Consultant Ophthalmologist

The Hydrus Microstent is an innovative new approach to glaucoma treatment surgery, and Professor Gazzard is one of only three surgeons performing this procedure in the UK.

eye with Hydrus Microstent in place The Hydus Microstent has been developed to be inserted rapidly, in a far less invasive procedure than traditional glaucoma surgery.

The tiny Hydrus device or ‘scaffold’ is inserted into the primary fluid canal (called Schlemm’s canal) of the eye. This opens up the channel and allows blocked fluid to flow more freely. As a result, high intra-ocular pressure (IOP) that is the common cause of glaucoma is reduced. Normally, you will not be able to see or feel the tiny device in place following your procedure.

The Hydrus Microstent procedure can even be done at the same time as cataract surgery, using the same microsurgical incisions (unlike many other surgical procedures used to treat glaucoma). Doctors can now, using the unique delivery system, implant a Hydrus Microstent through the very small incisions needed for cataract surgery. This significantly less invasive approach is called “ab-interno”, and may lead to fewer complications and faster healing times than traditional glaucoma surgery.

The Hydrus Microstent in inserted into Schlemm’s canal, where it acts as both a scaffold for about three clock hours of the canal and a partial bypass of the trabecular meshwork.

At a tiny 8mm, the Hydrus is the size of an eyelash, and is billed as the world’s first “intracanalicular scaffold”. It is made from a super-elastic, biocompatible alloy (nitinol®), which is a well-proven biomaterial that has already been used in over 1 million implants in a variety of medical devices.

You can download a PDF document for more information about Hydrus here.

If you would like to discuss this procedure further or think that you may benefit from a consultation with Professor Gazzard, please get in touch here.