If you have glaucoma, then monitoring and managing your intraocular pressure (IOP)–your internal eye pressure–is the most important thing you can do to prevent further vision loss. Intraocular pressure is the primary risk factor for glaucoma, and is currently the only approved factor for glaucoma treatment.  

How Monitoring Your Own IOP Helps Your Doctor

Your IOP changes constantly, not only between doctor’s visits, but even just over the course of each day and night. The more IOP measurements you have, the easier it will be for your doctor to see and understand your fluctuation patterns. The more your doctor knows about what is happening with your IOP, the better they can evaluate your treatment and adjust it as necessary. 

Recent technological innovations make monitoring your own IOP a simple matter. 

The “Smart” Contact Lens

The SENSIMED Triggerfish® Sensor “smart” contact lens was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2020 for monitoring eye pressure. Fluctuations in your eye pressure cause changes in the curvature of the front part of your eye. The soft, disposable “smart” lens can measure these alterations and feed the data intol a wireless device (worn on the face around the eye) that records them. The sensor is worn for 24 hours to capture a full day’s cycle of changes.

The Tonometer for Home Use

An ocular tonometer, a small probe that your doctor presses gently against your cornea to test your IOP, used to only be available only to eye care professionals. A tonometer for patient use, called the Icare® HOME tonometer (available in Europe since 2014) is now available to glaucoma patients in the U.S. The device uses a disposable probe that can be used several times per day. With each use, the tonometer takes six quick measurements, calculates your eye pressure and then stores that information in the probe’s memory. 

Further research will help assess the effectiveness and usefulness of these new devices. Always work with your ophthalmologist to determine if use of these devices, or any other treatment or management option, is right for you. 

*Glaucoma Research Foundation. (2020, Aug. 10). Home IOP Measurements and Continuous IOP Monitors. https://www.glaucoma.org/treatment/home-iop-measurements-and-continuous-iop-monitors.php