infected bleb

[anonimouse5]

Has anyone had an infected bleb? I have heard a glaucoma surgeon say that this is a lifelong risk, but I don't recall anyone on the site mentioning it.

[KieranGlaucomaUK Administrator]

Hi there,

A bleb-related infection is uncommon, it can occur in every 1-5 people out of 100. There are various factors that can cause this.

Symptoms include eye pain, redness and reduced vision. It is important that you go straight to A&E to seek medical help. Treatment is usually steroid and antibiotic eye drops.

[1inana]

Thank you for asking this Anonimouse5, I worry about this as I’m already blind in the other eye.

Kieran, apart from being very careful to keep dirt away from the eye, is there anything we can do to further reduce the chances of problems with the bleb?

[bronigel in reply to 1inana]

hello, I had Endophthalmitis following bleb needing. Nothing was ever cultured from swabs etc. I had several antibiotic injections into my eye, and was on hourly drops 24/7 . It was all very scary. I’m still on steroid drops almost a year later, so now have a cataract, plus adhesions around my pupil.

[Longwalks3]

There are risks attached to any surgery but I have always felt that the benefits of surgery outweigh the risk of infection. I have had a failed trabeculectomy, a failed aqueous shunt, 2 Baerveldt tube shunts and cataract surgery with canaloplasty in both eyes. I have never had an infected bleb, even when the pressure was too low for many weeks with the failed operations. I also had a blocked tear duct for about 5 years which did cause infections in the duct but never in rest of the eye or my tubes. Since I have had this repaired with a DCR operation I have not had any problems with infection.

[muddledme]

Hello anonimouse5,

Thank you, a very interesting question and a good reminder about potential eye infections especially post surgery.

In the spring I was at a recycling centre on a windy day and some dust blew into my good eye. It was very painful and I saw an optician who was worried about the fact that I had had Preserflo shunts in both eyes and any soil especially could have nasty resistant bacteria. I was referred to A&E where I was given some antibiotic drops which seemed to work well.

I felt really lucky with the outcome , but ever since I always wear protective glasses when at the recycling centre or doing gardening. No wonder the pre op assessment nurse always stresses no gardening post op. I had not realised at the time that soil bacteria could be such a hazzard as I thought she had primarily meant no bending or strenuous exercise.

Best wishes

[anonimouse5]

Thank you all for your comments.

I had a bad inflammation reaction following successful iridotomy, and now they are talking about cataract removal plus possibly some sort of shunt.

Inflammation is obviously going to be a risk again, but coupled with the additional worry of infection, I am reluctant to go down that route.

Judging from your replies, it doesn't seem to be a very high risk of infection, but potentially nasty if it happens.

However, my iridotomy experience, according to the doctor "had never happened before" so I am not very comforted by statistics.

Anyway, thank you again for taking the time to reply.