October 31, 2011
Do normal eye tests show up if someone suffers from Glaucoma?
Category: Glaucoma
Ok, first off my Nan suffered from glaucoma when she was alive, I heard it was hierarchy, but my dad never suffered.
I have regular eye checks, and too my knowledge have never had a special check for Glaucoma (if there is one).
I seem to be suffering from simular symptoms to acute glaucoma, occasionally what can only be described as a crack on my eye appears, and i feel dissy, light headed and sick. I always just thought this was dehydrasion though.
2 Responses to “Do normal eye tests show up if someone suffers from Glaucoma?”
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October 31st, 2011 at 3:08 am
When you go to your optician tell them this and they should give you a free glaucoma check.
October 31st, 2011 at 3:50 am
There are test that will indicate if you are suffering from glaucoma or at risk for it. The most common test is the “air puff” test to check “eye pressure” (intraocular pressure, aka IOP). The eye pressure test only tells you if you are at risk for glaucoma. To find out if you have glaucoma, a specialist needs to examine your optic nerve.
If you have a family history of glaucoma, you should have your eyes checked periodically by a glaucoma specialist (usually an ophthalmologist). The frequency of the checks depends on your age, but if you have never had a special check for glaucoma, go ahead and arrange that now.
Acute glaucoma is different from common (primary open angle glaucoma). Acute (closed angle) glaucoma should be treated as a medical emergency. Your symptoms do not sound exactly like acute glaucoma, but given your family history you should be checked by a specialist.
I recommend that you request the following tests:
1. intraocular pressure check (eye pressure) with Goldmann tonometer.
2. slit lamp examination of your optic nerve by the specialist
Optional tests:
3. retina photos showing your optic nerve (keep copies for yourself)
4. intraocular pressure check with the Pascal Dynamic Contour tonometer (preferrably in graphing mode – get copy of printout)
5. GDx VCC optic nerve examination (get copy of the printout)
Tests you can do at home:
Check your blood pressure with an electronic home BP monitor during the middle of the night a few times over a period of weeks or months (whenever you wake up in the night). Keep records. If your blood pressure drops dramatically while you are sleeping, tell your ophthalmologist.
If you are diagnosed with glaucoma, you can consider self-tonometry
http://fiteyes.com/blogs/dave/2008/05/22/home-eye-pressure-monitoring-recommended