The "Three Cherries Technique" for glaucoma drainage devices

Abstract

Small sponges are used to apply antimetabolites in order to reduce the risk of fibrosis in filtering glaucoma surgery. Due to the posterior location of the filtering bleb in glaucoma drainage implants, there is arisk that the sponges can dislocate in this area and cannot be retrieved after the exposure time has elapsed. We use the "three cherries technique" to minimize the risk. The term "three cherries technique" was coined by us and has not been used before in the literature. The three sponges that are used for mitomycinC application are each connected by single button sutures with a7.0 vicryl thread. At the end of the application time, the sponges can be quickly removed by pulling the thread.