Eye Test for Glaucoma


An eye test for glaucoma involves the following four examination areas, which can be tested by looking inside your eye, measuring the pressure inside your eye, testing your visual fields and blind spots, and photographing the inside and outside of the eye:

  • Eye pressure
  • Drainage pathway
  • Optic nerve
  • Visual field

Intraocular pressure is tested in a procedure known as Tonometry.  The drainage angle of the eye is examined in a procedure known as Gonioscopy.  This can help determine if you have open-angle glaucoma or closed-angle glaucoma, by placing a special lens in the eye.  If glaucoma has progressed, then there may be some optic nerve damage which.  This can be checked in an ophthalmoscopy, which involves dilating the eye and then examining it.  Glaucoma initially affects side vision, and this is examined in a perimetry.  Loss of such peripheral vision is a strong indication of glaucoma.  Regular optic nerve photography and visual field testing will help monitor the effects glaucoma has on the optic nerve and on vision.  A pachymetry may be completed by numbing the eye and then determining the thickness of the cornea.  A thick cornea often naturally has high eye pressure and a thin cornea can have normal pressure readings but glaucoma may still exist.  Therefore, this test is very important.

You can suffer from glaucoma and be unaware of it.  Diagnosing the disease early is the key to successful treatment.  If have been diagnosed with glaucoma, regular examinations will help ensure that there is a safe level of pressure in your eyes and permanent damage is not occurring.

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