Aug 14th 2019
Posted by Accuspire
How do you measure intraocular pressure Applanation tonometry?
The test that measures the intraocular pressure (IOP) inside the patient's eyes in order to determine whether or not they are at the risk for glaucoma is termed as Tonometry test. Glaucoma at times leads to progressive and irreversible vision loss.
Applanation Tonometry also known as Goldmann tonometry, is the test which applies soft pressure to a gently flatten area of 3.07mm of the patient's cornea. A slit lamp, an attached microscope is usually used to look into the eye while a calibrated dial measures the pressure used.
The traditional equipment required several separate mechanisms whereas, the handheld applanation tonometry instrument have modified into a single easy device.
The local anesthetic drops is instilled into the patient's eye. This ensures that the sensor tip won’t touch their eye which helps to reduce erratic movement and flight responses.
Once the anesthetic effect starts, the patient are asked to look straight ahead with both of their eyes wide open.
The handheld tonometer records the measurement and proceeds to the next measurement if needed.
The device emits high pitched beep during every step which indicates successful measurement.
Normal eye pressure differs from person to person. Usually it is highest immediately after a person wakes up. Women seem to have higher average intraocular pressures then men. Also for everyone normal levels increases with age.
The normal intraocular pressure should range between 10 and 21 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). When this measurement exceeds, it refers to abnormal pressures. This indicates that the patient either has glaucoma or is at a high risk of glaucoma.
The patient is recommended to go for other testing such as ophthalmoscopy when the reading goes high. This helps to determine the risk levels and to suggest a treatment plan. Handheld tonometers like the AccuPen remain the best for the beginning stage of testing.
