Intraocular pressure

Intraocular pressure (IOP) is the fluid pressureinside the eye. It may become elevated due to anatomical problems, inflammationof the eye, genetic factors, or as a side-effectfrom medication.

Significance

Ocular hypertension(OHT) is intraocular pressure higher than normal in the absence of optic nervedamage or visual fieldloss ^{[{{fullurl:Template:FULLPAGENAME}}#endnote_AOA] [{{fullurl:Template:FULLPAGENAME}}#endnote_AAO]}. Current consensus in ophthalmologydefines normal introcular pressure as that between 10 mmHg and 21 mmHg ^{[{{fullurl:Template:FULLPAGENAME}}#endnote_webMD] [{{fullurl:Template:FULLPAGENAME}}#endnote_eMed]}. Because IOP is the most important risk factor for glaucoma, those with ocular hypertension are frequently considered to have a greater chance of developing the condition.

Differences between the pressure in the two eyes is often clinically significant, and potentially associated with certain types of glaucoma as wells as iritisor retinal detachment.

Physiology and measurement

Intraocular pressure is determined by the coupling of the production of aqueous humorfrom the eye's ciliary bodyand its drainage through the trabecular meshworkand Schlemm's canallocated in the anterior chamberangle. It is measured with a tonometer.

References

• ^  American Optometric Association
• ^  American Academy of Ophthalmology
• ^  webMD
• ^  eMedicine - Glaucoma Overview

External links

• EyeMDLink
• eMedicine
• Tonometry

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intraocular+pressure Wikipedia article Intraocular pressure.