How risky is it to have a trabeculectomy done to both eyes?  What are
the success rates for this procedure?  And finally, who is the best
eye surgeon or what is the best eye clinic in the upstate New York
area (say within 150 miles of Oneonta)?

Hello,

The following link contains information on the trabeculectomy surgery:
http://my.webmd.com/encyclopedia/article/1738.53277#hw154196 

According to the above site:

"Two years after a trabeculectomy, 85% to 95% of people have lower
pressure in their eyes. However, many people need another
trabeculectomy surgery or other treatments for glaucoma".

The following link contains information on Glaucoma Services offered
by the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary:

http://www.nyee.edu/page_deliv.html?page_no=81 

This is a list of opthamologists I found from the above site:

http://www.nyee.edu/physlocate.html 

From a personal point of view: I had the trabeculectomy surgery in
1998 in one eye (the pressure was up to 49 and laser surgery didn't
lower it). Since then, my pressure has been hovering between 15 and
18. As with most eye surgeries, the specialists would only operate on
one eye at a time (I also had to have laser surgery in the other eye
and had to wait two months for that procedure).

I hope this information is helpful.

Regards,

ames

Although I appreciate your description of your own experience with
trabeculectomy, I was looking for more in-depth research about the
risks of the procedure and its success rate... not simply a link to a
webMD encyclopedia entry.  Also I was interested in learning about the
reputation of the doctors and clinics that perform the procedure in
upstate NY, not simply a physician finder service.  Thanks anyway for
your efforts.

Hello again,

Sorry about the last link to the list of opthamologists. It actually
takes you to a page where you have to select a specialty, subspecialty
and location. For each of these, I entered:

specialty: Opthamology
subspecialty: Glaucoma
location: Westchester County and Upstate New York

When you click on Find you will then see the list of opthamologists.

Regards,

ames