Eye Pressure
Eye Pressure
Something that doesn’t get a lot of attention is eye pressure, or Intraocular Pressure. This little discussed topic is actually an incredibly important part of your eye health.
Intraocular (eye) Pressure is the pressure inside your eyes. It is the measurement of fluid pressure in your aqueous humor. There is a certain amount of pressure that your eyes need in order for them to work and be healthy. If your eye pressure is high, it can lead to other eye issues like glaucoma. If left untreated over time, it can cause harm to your vision.
A look at what Eye Pressure is
Eye pressure is an important part of your eyes overall health. Your eyes are filled with fluid. There are two types of fluid in your eye.
- The vitreous humor in the chamber at the back of your eye.
- The aqueous humor the fills the area at the front of your eye. The aqueous humor is thinner than the vitreous humor.
Normally, your eyes will know how to regulate this on their own. As your eye makes new aqueous humor, it will remove the same amount.
Measuring Eye Pressure
The best way to get your eye pressure measured is during a regular eye exam. The test used to measure eye pressure is a tonometry test. This test measures the pressure inside of your eye by flattening your cornea. The more force needed to flatten your cornea, the higher your eye pressure is.
The air puff tonometry is the most common type of tonometry. You may have had this done in the past, it’s not particularly fun, but it is so important. If necessary another way to test this would be to numb your eye and press a tool against your cornea.
A normal and healthy amount of eye pressure to have is between 10mmHg and 20mmHg. (millimeters of mercury). Your eye doctor can determine if your eye pressure is normal with one of the two described tests.
Causes
There are many different things that can cause high eye pressure. Since your body knows to automatically adjust the pressure in your eye, if this pressure is off that means there is something wrong. Some things that can change your eye pressure faster than your body can regulate it are:
- Trauma or eye injuries
- Side effects of medications like corticosteroids
- A blockage
- Your eye producing too much aqueous humor
If you have high eye pressure you are risk of developing glaucoma and it can lead to damaging you vision.
Symptoms and Treatment
High eye pressure does not normally cause any kind of symptoms that you would notice in your day to day life. This is another good reason to have regular eye exams regardless of just your eyesight. We have covered many times just how important eye exams can be to your overall health.
High eye pressure isn’t going to cause any symptoms until it’s already damaged your optic nerve enough to affect your vision. You can discuss with your eye doctor at your next visit how often they recommend to get your eye pressure tested.
If you are diagnosed with high eye pressure there are a few different ways to treat it:
- Laser treatment
- Surgery
- Medication like eye drops
Your eye doctor will recommend what they think will be best based of off their findings from your eye pressure test.
Bottom Line
As always we want to reiterate how important regular eye exams are to your overall health. There are a lot of issues that will be identified early if you have regular eye exams. Not only do you have a record of your previous eye health but your eye doctor will notice smaller changes from year to year since they regularly see you.
Your eye health is important and we want to make sure you are well equipped with the knowledge to keep them healthy for as long as possible!