Laser PI vs. Cataract Surgery

I was recently reading a discussion board posting about laser peripheral iridotomy (PI) and cataract surgery as solutions for patients who have narrow angles. The angle of the eye is basically the space between the cornea (the very front of the eye) and the iris (the colored part of the eye). The angle is where the fluid in the front part of the eye drains out. The eye is nearly constantly producing fluid, so there is a turnover of fluid as it produces fluid and the fluid drains out at the angle. If the angle gets narrow enough that it is “blocked off,” there can be severe increases in eye pressure and permanent eye damage. There are different solutions to this problem, including laser PI and cataract surgery. As a rule of thumb, I generally prefer cataract surgery to alleviate angle problems, as long as the patient has some degree of cataract formation. There was mixed opinions on the discussion board, but overall I thought that other surgeons generally preferred cataract surgery in most cases of narrow angle as well.