Long-term treatment success and safety of combined phacoemulsification plus excimer laser trabeculostomy: an 8-year follow-up study.

Combined phaco-ELT is a safe procedure without serious intra- or postoperative complications, which has a positive long-term effect regarding IOP and meds. Remarkably, the mean IOP-lowering effect remained stable and was reduced ≥ 20% from baseline after 3 months for the remainder of the follow-up duration, whereas the number of meds was reduced significantly for up to 4 years. Furthermore, only 25.5% of the eyes required a subsequent surgery to control IOP throughout the whole follow-up of 8 years.