I do not have glaucoma. A bit of an anatomy lesson:
Our eyes are filled with a pressurized fluid. Without this fluid, our eyes would collapse like a deflated balloon. We need the fluid to maintain the correct shape which, in turn, keeps our vision accurate. Behind our eyes is a blood vessel that feeds the optical nerve. If the pressure in our eyes increases, the eyeball itself will push hard on this vessel, and blood won't make it to the nerve, which leads to blindness. This is what happens to people with glaucoma, but it takes time. That's why an annual pressure check can detect a problem and, through daily treatment with pressure reducing eye drops, prevent the eventual nerve damage.
The test I took during my physical used a burst of air to check for increased pressure and found it - to a high degree. So why did the test read high and I don't have glaucoma? Because I have keratoconus.
Keratoconus, which I've known about for over ten years, is the term for a coning of the cornea (the cornea is supposed to be perfectly spherical). The pressure tests use a series of complicated mathematical formulas based on the laws of physics to determine the pressure of the fluid in the eye. One of the inputs to this formula presupposes a correctly curved cornea. I don't have this, so the results are widely skewed.
Today, I did a number of follow up tests, including the original air test. The two primary tests they did today were a corneal thickness test and a laser picture of my optical nerve. The corneal thickness test was a bit odd. It involved first numbing my eyes with drops and then using a tool similar to a ballpoint pen to poke at the surface of my eye and measure the response. I'm glad I couldn't feel it. Before I left, they did a final examination to validate none of their tests scratched my eyes.
I took a total of seven tests and spent over two hours at the office. Based on the results, we're returning to Jakarta tomorrow; our good news/bad news thought for the day.
On the plus side, it looks like my keratoconus has improved, too....but I still can't read the fine print on the back of food packaging.
I'm glad it's over, I'm glad I don't have glaucoma and, most of all, I'm glad I don't have to monitor the city morgues and obituaries for dead pilots so I can request an eye transplant; I hear they are required to have perfect vision without correction.
Our eyes are filled with a pressurized fluid. Without this fluid, our eyes would collapse like a deflated balloon. We need the fluid to maintain the correct shape which, in turn, keeps our vision accurate. Behind our eyes is a blood vessel that feeds the optical nerve. If the pressure in our eyes increases, the eyeball itself will push hard on this vessel, and blood won't make it to the nerve, which leads to blindness. This is what happens to people with glaucoma, but it takes time. That's why an annual pressure check can detect a problem and, through daily treatment with pressure reducing eye drops, prevent the eventual nerve damage.
The test I took during my physical used a burst of air to check for increased pressure and found it - to a high degree. So why did the test read high and I don't have glaucoma? Because I have keratoconus.
Keratoconus, which I've known about for over ten years, is the term for a coning of the cornea (the cornea is supposed to be perfectly spherical). The pressure tests use a series of complicated mathematical formulas based on the laws of physics to determine the pressure of the fluid in the eye. One of the inputs to this formula presupposes a correctly curved cornea. I don't have this, so the results are widely skewed.
Today, I did a number of follow up tests, including the original air test. The two primary tests they did today were a corneal thickness test and a laser picture of my optical nerve. The corneal thickness test was a bit odd. It involved first numbing my eyes with drops and then using a tool similar to a ballpoint pen to poke at the surface of my eye and measure the response. I'm glad I couldn't feel it. Before I left, they did a final examination to validate none of their tests scratched my eyes.
I took a total of seven tests and spent over two hours at the office. Based on the results, we're returning to Jakarta tomorrow; our good news/bad news thought for the day.
On the plus side, it looks like my keratoconus has improved, too....but I still can't read the fine print on the back of food packaging.
I'm glad it's over, I'm glad I don't have glaucoma and, most of all, I'm glad I don't have to monitor the city morgues and obituaries for dead pilots so I can request an eye transplant; I hear they are required to have perfect vision without correction.
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1 comment:
Hi, Brian. I'm glad everything is relatively OK. I've had the air test several times, but no one has ever poked around on my eyes like that. I'd tolerate it, but not well; I have some real phobias about my eyes.
Hope everything is well otherwise.
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