What are the best treatments for high eye pressure?

[DaniellJM]

I'm 19 and have had my eye pressure measured multiple times ranging from 25 to 31, very rare for someone my age. Fortunately, my eye doctor caught it at an early stage and referred me to a specialist. The specialist I see has mentioned several treatments to get the pressure back down and prevent from possible damage to the retina (which has not occured yet). Some of these being eyedrops, medication and laser surgery. I am interested in the laser surgery because it supposedly unclogs the mechanism (not sure what its called) that carries fluid out of the eye, thus lowering the pressure. What do you find most effective?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

For IOP of 25-30 I do: visual fields, gonioscopy, corneal thickness measurements, optic disk photography and optic nerve OCT. Then I would follow the person every 6 months if these baseline tests were normal.

I would see a second Eye MD ophthalmologist. In the USA find one near you at www.aao.org

JCH MD

[nicole8187]

I was wondering...my eye doctor checked my eye pressure 3 times on each eye and they were all between 25-30. they checked for glaucoma but it was negative...nothing else was done. shouldn't they try to lower the pressure to prevent damage to my optic nerve??? i am experiencing blurry vision but every so often and sometimes i feel like there's something in my periphrial sight, i'll turn my head and there will be nothing there.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) is the NEW laser for glaucoma however it is very unlikely to lower the IOP enough (average is 4-6 points). You almost assuredly will need several eye drops to lower the pressure from 25-30.

JCH III MD