Tonometry

It consists in determining the inner pressure of the eye and it is fundamental in the early detection of glaucoma, this is an eye disease that causes a progressive damage to the optic nerve, the part that transmits all images to the brain.

Half of the patients with glaucoma do not know that they suffer it, because it does not produce evident symptoms, as pain or an abrupt loss of vision, for the most part of the cases, affected individuals are not conscious that suffer glaucoma until they loose an important part of the field of vision. This disease multiplies by four the risk of falling and represents a serious danger for driving.

Tonometry allows us to detect the suspicion but on its own it is not enough to determine that a patient suffers glaucoma. It should be complimented with and study of the fundus (retinography) and a field of vision (perimetry).

Risk factors are:

• Age (older than 60 years).
• Family history of glaucoma.
• Eye hypertension.
• Myopia or high hyperopia.
• Eye trauma.
• Coloured or Asian races.

Our protocol of eye exploration always includes tonometry in order to detect the suspicion of glaucoma and deriving you to your ophthalmologist in order to have the appropriate diagnosis.