Selective laser trabeculoplasty does not require anesthesia in a traditional sense. Eye drops are placed in the eye to provide surface anesthesia and to prepare the eye for the procedure. The patient places their chin the holder, much like an...

eye exam or test for glaucoma. An eye piece is placed over the eye in order to guide the laser and hold it in place. As the patient looks through the lens, a Q-switched 532 Nd:YAG laser is aimed at the area of the trabecular meshwork. The laser pulses are very brief—on the order of nanoseconds or about a millionth to billionth of a second. Unlike older versions of the therapy, such as argon laser trabeculoplasty, selective laser trabeculoplasty does not require precise targeting since the wavelength and energy of the light used selectively targets a particular type of cell within the meshwork. The surrounding cells are not heated or destroyed. Thus the fluid outflow is improved without damaging the trabecular meshwork. The selective laser trabeculoplasty takes a matter of seconds. In fact the preparative drops take longer to work than the SLT device takes to apply the laser.