FitEyes members occasionally mention that they're waiting hopefully for "Beacon" to be approved by the FDA. What is this Beacon device?

Beacon is a new surgical treatment that's in clinical trials. Its full name is the Beacon Aqueous Microshunt ("BAM"). It's implanted using MIGS: minimally invasive glaucoma surgery.

From the manufacturer:

Beacon pages on their site

About shunts

A shunt is, basically, a tube to open a passage somewhere in the body so fluids can move. In glaucoma, various kinds of shunts may be placed in the eye to enable healthy flow of fluid, so IOP is kept low enough. In the best of all worlds, this could mean no more eye drops, at least for some patients.

Various kinds of intraocular shunts have had various downsides, including in some cases repeat surgery, which it's hoped Beacon will not require. A significant difference is that while most shunts move fluid within the body, the Beacon moves aqueous humor out of the eye, to the surface.

Availability timeline:

Here are the clinical trial pages on ClinicalTrials.gov:

Study of the Beacon Aqueous Microshunt in Patients With Refractory Glaucoma (US)

• Estimated Primary Completion Date : January 2022
• Estimated Study Completion Date : December 2026

Early Evaluation of the Beacon Aqueous Microshunt in Patients Refractory to Drug Therapy in the European Union (EU)

• Estimated Primary Completion Date : December 2021
• Estimated Study Completion Date : December 2022

Alternatives

An alternative MIGS surgery, also in early development, is activeFlow, which we learned about in this August 2021 thread.