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Suggest Treatment For High Eye Pressure Levels

Posted on Sat, 23 May 2015

Question: i had a optician friend check my eye pressure levels because my eyes have felt hard lately. my pressures were up 28 in both eyes. i am a high minus -10 in one eye and -6.50 in the left eye. i have had high pressures before but they have stayed at 21 for about 10 years..i have my eyes checked by a retina specialist every 6 months and he has not seen any changes. i had a knee accident and he gave me a cortisone shot in the knee..i have not been able to exercise and have been feeling stressed. could that raise my pressure? it was after the shot that i felt that my eyeballs got hard. how long does the cortisone stay with you? I has been about a two months since the cortisone shot. should i be followed by a glaucoma specialist or would the retina specialist be able to notice any changes. they measureed my corneas at one time and i was told they were thicker than normal..does that play a role?? thanks so much!! if i have to take meds for pressure does it have lots of side effects..what do you suggest to take with the least amt. of side effects

Answered by Dr. Dadapeer K (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Glaucoma needs to be treated by eye drops.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Welcome to Health care magic

I am Dr. DADAPEER K, an Ophthalmologist and I will be answering your question.

I reviewed your history.

The normal intraocular pressure is around 15 mm of hg. This is directly proportional to the corneal thickness. If the thickness of the cornea is more than the intraocular pressure will be recorded high and if the thickness of the cornea is less the intraocular pressure will be recorded low. Hence we need a correction factor to be added to record the intraocular pressure if the thickness is not normal I think this will be done by your glaucoma specialist.

But an intraouclar pressure of 28 is definitely high and requires evaluation and treatment.
Cortisone or steroid in any form is known to increase the intraocular pressure. But it will come done once the effect of the drug goes off. This may take 3-4 months in case of use of long acting cortisone drugs.

Retinal specialist will be able to monitor and look for the changes of glaucoma, but I advice for one baseline evaluation by glaucoma specialist to look for all changes in detail.

Glaucoma needs to be treated by eye drops and these are associated with least side effects, hence no need to be worried about them.

Hope I have answered your question and the information is helpful to you.
Do write back to me for further questions.

Thank you
With regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Dadapeer K (31 minutes later)

i noticed my eye feeling harder after the cortisone shot to my knee..my contacts seemed harder to remove since the cortisone shot. is is dangerous to remain high for a few months while the cortisone shot gets out of my system. does stress affect the pressure and the lack of exercise .will the pressure go down after a period of time once the cortisone is out of my system. Have you seen eye pressure to elevate after taking cortisone shots.
you have been so wonderful. Thanks so much!!!

Answered by Dr. Dadapeer K (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Increase in intraocular pressure following cortisone is common.

Detailed Answer:
Hello
Thank you for the follow up question.

We commonly see this problem of elevated intraocular pressure following use of steroid drugs or steroid injection.
This elevated intraocular pressure will decrease once the effect of the cortisone or steroid injection is decreased.

Stress definitely increases intraocular pressure.

It is definitely dangerous to have increased intraocular pressure as this can damage the eyes, hence you need to treat intraocular pressure by anti glaucoma drugs.

Hope this answers your question.

Thank you

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar