high eye pressure

[sisi71]

My husband is near sighted and lost to his left eye due to retinal detachment when he was 20 years old. Since that time he regularly goes to a retinal specialist to check on his right retina. About three years ago, his retinal specialist retired and my husband was reffered to another retinal speciallist. About a month ago, my husband went for his annual eye check up and his doctor told him that his eye pressure was 32. The doctor then told him that in fact his eye pressure has been creeping up these past two years. After one month of treatment, my husband's eye pressure is down to 20 which is still considered high for a near sighted person. Out of curiosity, my husband asked for his medical record from this doctor because he suspected that he had been having high pressure for a long time. Sure enough, when we got the medical records, they showed that in March 2008, my husband had an eye pressure of 22 and in February, 2009, his pressure was 24. My question is as follows: Is it normal that the retinal specialist did not tell my husband that he had high pressure in his eye, especially that my husband is near sighted and has only one eye. Shouldn't the doctor have told him to seek the help of an eye doctor or at least reffered my husband to an eye doctor?

[sisi71]

Thank you for this answer, but I still have another question. My husband has a family history of Glaucoma (His father had it) and in February 2009 his eye pressure went up to 24 and still his retinal specialist didn't tell him that his eye pressure was going up. Now, for me this is negligence. wherevere I looked, I found that eye pressure ranges from 15 to 20 and above that it is considered high especially in somebody who has a family history of Glaucoma, who is nearsighted and who has only one eye with a vision of 20/150. Now, if this is normal for you, how come most doctors he saw two months ago when he was in France told him that his eye pressure was very high for his condition.

Also, I am not convinced that a pressure of 22 is normal in his case. If it were normal, why now that it is down to 20 he was reffered to a Glaucoma specialist. Also how come other doctors that my husband saw while on a trip to France told him that he should have been told about his eye pressure two years ago when it started to go up.

Again, you said that an eye pressure of 22 is normal, how about 24. Is it still normal?

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear sisi71,

Intraocular pressure of 22 is considered normal.  Intraocular pressure alone does not mean that someone has glaucoma and should be examined along with a number of other tests.  There is some variability of measurement of intraocular pressure.  

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California