high pressure - Eyes

[SexyChick]

Hiya. Had my yearly eye check today and the pressure in my eyes is high again. It was last year too. The optician said this is the first sign of Glaucoma but thinks I am too young to get this (35).

Has anyone else had this high pressure reading? I had to do another test, I think it was called a field test which was ok.

Other than the high pressure she said my eyes were healthy. I am a bit worried about the fact she said it is the first sign of Glaucoma

SexyChick, I really wouldn't worry about it just yet. High eye pressure is associated with glaucoma but there is a group of people who have what is called ocular hypertension which means that the eye pressure is high but the visual fields and optic nerves are normal. They may or may not go on to develop glaucoma. Tbh ( I am an optometrist) Is the pressure higher than it was last year or are they around the same?

BTW, 35 is young but it would not be unheard of for someone in their thirties to develop glaucoma so your optom is right to keep you under review.

Thanks. She did mention ocular hypertension. She obviously wasn't too concerned as she just said to come back in a years time for another check.

My Gran has Glaucoma but she was in her 70's when she got it.

What causes the eye pressure to become high (other than developing Glaucoma),? Could stress cause it? I have been under a lot of stress over the last 2 years.

My ocular pressure has been high for 5 or 6 years now. I am 44.I have to visit the eye clinic at the hospital every 6 months with a field test every year.
At one stage they thought it was because I don't like my eyes being touched and to be honest the doctor was horrible.
They changed doctor and my pressure is still high at 24, it has been upto 30.

I still have no sign of glaucoma thankfully

SexyChick, those at higher risk of glaucoma are people with a family history, people over 40, smokers, short-sighted people, diabetics, high blood pressure, people over 40, people with thin corneas, people who have used steroid nasal sprays, males and people of African descent.
Purely anecdotally, I think that my patients with glaucoma are perhaps more likely to be stressed-out than other people but that is only my observation, don't think there is any scientific basis for saying that!
Really the only thing you can do is have regular checks. Even if you do develop it, it is very, very treatable, normally it is people with undetected glaucoma who lose their vision and that is not going to happen to you!

Dolores

Have you come across a connection with high blood pressure, or cases of an eye version of "white coat hypertension"?

I don't use steroid nasal sprays but use steroid inhalers for asthma. Is it the steroids that can cause it then?

christy, I do find, ironically enough, that those patients most in fear of the "air puff" are most likely to get a high reading, warranting repeat testing!
SexyChick, it is the steroid that causes the rise in pressure but it has only been linked to nasal sprays, not to systemic steroids.