Our eyes need a certain amount of pressure inside them to function properly and stay healthy. An imbalance in the production and drainage of fluid in the eye causes high pressure (ocular hypertension). If left untreated, elevated eye pressure can lead to glaucoma and harm your vision.
Overview
At your regular screening, your ophthalmologist always checks your intraocular pressure (IOP). This reading provides an important picture of your eye health and can recognize signs of optic nerve damage that may lead to vision loss. This blog post will demystify eye pressure, common causes of eye pressure, and treatment options. Also, learn how elevated eye pressure affects vision and overall eye health.
Eye pressure or Intraocular pressure is the eye’s fluid pressure. The continual production and outflow of fluids maintain this pressure within the eye. Naturally occurring intraocular pressure is an important part of vision and eye health. Your eyes have lots of fluid. These fluids help keep your eyes inflated like a ball. The chamber at the back of your eye has a thick gel-like material (vitreous humor). A watery liquid called aqueous humor is also present. Much of the aqueous humor is in the front part of the eye, in front of the iris, and behind the cornea. The normal pressure in the eyeball can change during the day and differ from one individual to another. In healthy people, the eye fluids drain freely to keep your eye pressure steady.
Our body tends to regulate intraocular pressure automatically. An equal amount of older aqueous humor flows out as the eye forms new aqueous humor. When the pressure inside the eyes is higher than normal, the condition is called ocular hypertension. If left untreated, it causes stress on the parts inside your eye and damages your optic nerve. Research studies show that elevated eye pressure increases the risk of glaucoma. According to healthcare experts, excessive pressure inside the eye can damage the optic nerve present behind the eyes and cause loss of eyesight. Research shows that lowering pressure within the eye can help stop vision loss from glaucoma. This is the reason why it is so important to control the pressure inside the eye.
Eye pressure is measured in millimeters like a thermometer measures temperatures using mercury. Normal eye pressure range is between 10 and 20 millimeters of mercury. Eye pressure that’s too low or too high can affect your vision. Increased pressure shows no other symptoms, such as ocular hypertension. Some individuals may have high eye pressure with no damage, while others may lose vision even if the pressure comes under the normal range.
Ocular hypertension should not be identified as a disease by itself. But, if you get it, you may be more likely to get glaucoma.
In the case of glaucoma, eye pressure damages the optic nerve. This damage can severely affect one’s vision and permanently reduce vision. If glaucoma is not treated at the right time, it can cause complete blindness. Patients having thin corneas may be more likely to develop glaucoma. Therefore, your ophthalmologist might recommend a test that includes measuring your corneal thickness.
Possible ocular hypertension causes
Your body tends to adjust your eye pressure automatically. However, certain changes within your eye can affect your IOP faster than your body can regulate it, including:
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- Eye releasing too much aqueous humor
- Traumas and eye injuries
- A blocked drainage angle that helps prevent aqueous humor from entering the eye.
- Side effects from some medicines, especially corticosteroids.
Individuals with thick corneas often have eye pressure measuring more high levels. Their pressure may be lower, but a thick cornea could cause a falsely high reading during measurement sessions.
Symptoms of high pressure
People with ocular hypertension show no symptoms. Such people don’t even know they have elevated eye pressure until an ophthalmologist diagnoses it during an eye exam.
Without an eye exam, there’s usually no way for you to know that you suffer from ocular hypertension. The symptoms don’t appear until you find optic nerve damage, ultimately affecting your vision. This is why it is important to get an eye screening done regularly.
Prevention and treatment
It is important to lower elevated eye pressure because it damages your optic nerve and causes vision loss. If there is only a slight increase in your IOP, your ophthalmologist may not start treatment; instead, they will keep a close watch with regular testing.
An ophthalmologist will treat high eye pressure. The treatment you need usually depends on your eye pressure and what’s causing it. Here are some treatments:
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- Eye drops for eye pressure, such as Bimat (with brush) 3ml (0.03%), and many more, improve the amount of fluids and increase drainage in your eye.
- Laser treatment opens the blocked drainage angle.
- Surgery for relieving pressure inside the eye.
Your ophthalmologist will monitor you for symptoms of glaucoma. He will also advise you on how often you should check your eye pressure. However, you may be advised to use eye pressure drops to reduce intraocular pressure. You may be given Pilocar eye drops or Travatan 2.5ml (0.004%) to reduce eye pressure and treat glaucoma. You will also get with a scheduled visit plan within several weeks of initiating the treatment to see if there is improvement.
In some cases, ophthalmologists may recommend more than one medicine. Sticking to the dosing schedule your ophthalmologist prescribes for the eye drop to work properly is important. In severe cases, laser or surgery is used to lower IOP.
Treatment reduces the risk of developing glaucoma, but it does not eliminate the risk. Some individuals with ocular hypertension may go on to get glaucoma. If this occurs, your eye care specialist will discuss the treatment options.
Verdict!
Those with high IOP are likely to have an increased risk of developing glaucoma. More fluid is being produced but can’t flow out. This ultimately results in an increased amount of fluid inside the eye, thus raising the pressure. Discuss with an ophthalmologist how often you should check your intraocular pressure.
