Pressure Eye Test..Help!!!

[Kylie03]

Hi my DS2 has an eye test tomorro to check the pressure behind his eyes. he has external hydrocephaleus and his lumbar pressure was 30 (instead of 13-16) so there gonna check his eyes to see if he's gonna need a shunt. does anyone know what this involves or have any experience of one???? thanks

oops the eye test not the shunt

nothing to it - At the option its like a puff of air which may make him blink but that's all.

I have had pressure measured with my consultant for an eye condition I have and tbh I'm not sure at what stage of his examination he actually does the pressure test because I don't feel anything. What MAY happen is - they may dilate his pupils - drops and then look closely into his eye but no pain I can assure you.

The pressure check is, as MistleToo says, just a puff of air in your eyes. It's a tiny bit unpleasant, but not very much so, and not dangerous etc.

I don't think they would dilate his pupils for that. I hope not, having your pupils dilated is much more unpleasant.

thanks will they be able to tell me the pressure tomorro?

Yes, I think they can tell the pressure right away.

You have to hold your head in a special headresty sort of thing, and the bit of air goes "pfft" at your eye. They know right away, I think, what the pressure is - the machine tells them.

Doesn't this all sound like witchdoctor stuff?

i know...i wonder how there gonna do that with DS2 he's only 11 months!!!

There's a different way they can do it with a blue light I think. I'm sure if they've suggested he has it done they'll have a way to do it. Hope it goes well.

that's the one hunker - but I can never remember whether I have before or after dilation - but dilation isn't unpleasant at all!

I think I have dilation cos I always have my retinas examined

i used to work in an opticians, we had an automatic tonometer which made no contact with the eye at all. Patient just had to rest chin on a bar and look at a light, while we lined up a little light on the other side, and then a puff of air went towards to the eye. You could ask the staff to show your child what happens by puffing the air on to his hand , or get him to look on the other side while you have it done (so he can see your eye) then he might be keener to have a go himself to be "like mummy" . this used to work sometimes. imo squeamish adults were worst! having read this thread though, there may well be another method for tots, im not sure. hth.

I had one a couple of weeks back. Just a puff of air.

hi back from the hospital. they first checked his eyes with picture cards!?! and said his eye sight seemed fine. then they dilated his pupils and the doctor put a light thing on his head and a lens in front of DS's eye and looked into it. Anyhoo they said there is no pressure on the nerve which is a good thing...but i just wonder what will happen next. thanks for all your help everybody!

Actually Kylie, just realised that it wasn't intraocular pressure they were looking for, which is what I was describing before! Sorry! What it sounds like is that they were looking for pressure on the brain, which is different from eye pressure, but can show up by looking at the optic nerve at the back of the eye. By the sounds of it, he has no problems at the moment. How old is your ds?

hes 11 months..it was the pressure of the brain they were takin...cos they said he had external hydrocephaleus.

The reason they look at the eyes is that its makes it easier to detect pressure on the brain. If the optic nerves look fine, then the brain is unlikely to be pressurised which is a good sign.