A lot of new people are joining our group for home eye pressure monitoring (self-tonometry). Please allow me to welcome all the new users and share a few thoughts about what to do when your new tonometer arrives.

It is always best to leave the job of making judgments about your eye pressure -- in the context of your health care -- to your doctor. This is not just a disclaimer!

Part of the skill of managing your eye pressure effectively is to not think about it the way a doctor would. If you think there is a medical emergency, by all means call your doctor. But in general the best thing you can do is measure as often as possible and do everything you can to avoid playing doctor.

Do not diagnose your own intraocular pressure. Don't think about what it may mean in terms of glaucoma. This is a powerful skill, not a cop out. This is a powerful skill because we have strong evidence that one's state of mind affects one's eye pressure. You will begin to see evidence of this when you start monitoring your eye pressure.

I wish to mention the technique Gyoshi Ho which  is used in Reiki. This techinque is also known as eyes healing and heres a small description about this technique : http://www.aetw.org/d_gyoshi.htm

Is possible that Gyoshi Ho can reduce IOP?

Hi - just got back rom the dentist and could not help but notice they thought it was important to cover my lap with a lead blanket but my eyes - nothing and they are a whole lot closer to the Xray machine.  Given how much time I spend babying my eyes with good things to prevent oxidation - wondering if anyone has any comment on the impact of Xrays dental or otherwise.

 Does anyone have comments on this book?

Here is the Amazon Link:

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About(TM) Glaucoma: The Essential Treatments and Advances That Could Save Your Sight

My Glaucoma drops last usually 2 months or longer(5ML bottle). I have been told that 16 drops eaual 1ML so each ML would equal 8 days(two eyes being treated). Therefore a 5ML bottle equal 40 days.

 I thought this was interesting, 

----------------------------------------------

 J Pineal Res. 2010 Mar 31;

Authors: Belforte NA, Moreno MC, de Zavalía N, Sande PH, Chianelli MS, Keller Sarmiento MI, Rosenstein RE

I mentioned previously that my new glaucoma specialist had me on a drug wash out period to get off all glaucoma meds so as to establish a baseline (what a nerve racking experience!). During this several week wash out time, I learned that my pressures could get almost as low as when on xalatan, but they also were much more volatile. Anyhow probably in anticipation of my doc visit, yesterday my pressures really start getting up there, as I had several readings crossing 30 and could not seem to get them down even with exercise.

The effect of oral magnesium therapy on visual field and ocular blood flow in normotensive glaucoma

Note these conclusions! Also note that Josef FLAMMER, Professor and Head, Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Basel (Switzerland), recommends magnesium supplementation (so I am told).

Purpose. To evaluate the effect of oral magnesium therapy on ocular blood flow and visual field perimetry indices in patients with normotensive glaucoma (NTG).

Your eyes bother you. So you go down to the drug store and buy a bottle of artificial tears. There are so many brands you really don't know which one is best. Or you trust your eye doctor who may prescribe an eye drop for glaucoma or who recommends an over-the-counter eye drop for your dry, red, itchy, burning eyes. To keep the ingredients from spoiling, manufacturers add preservatives. It is these preservatives, even in doses as small as 1/10th of 1 percent, that are a cause for concern.

Hello

Actually I have lost the user manul for AT555.Now the unit is accidently travel locked.

Can anyone please explain how to unlock it?

Thanks in anticipation!

OCULAR SURGERY NEWS U.S. EDITION April 25, 2010

Three approaches for continuous IOP monitoring are being explored to find an ideal device that would accurately measure 24-hour IOP without IOP measurement noise, contact lens intolerance or other issues, Arthur J. Sit, SM, MD, said.

“We may just be getting to the point now with miniaturization, particularly driven by the computer industry, where we could potentially have clinically suitable devices,” Dr. Sit said at [a recent professional meeting].

Stephen Gislason (MD) seems to me to link the ancient medicine with the contemporary one. He believes food can be healing. Especially when one is getting posioned by food wich is not good for him. In other words he believes that food (and other) allergies can be responsible for most of unexplained diseases. I have bought his ideas.

I've been told by my internist that I need laser surgery for narrow angle glaucoma/plateau iris.  He indicated that there both conservative and more aggressive approaches. He explained that there is a more conservative procedure putting one hole in the iris, which has a 50% chance of success. If it is not successful, they you would have to go again and they would do a procedure putting in a lot of holes. That sounds very scarey. I would appreciate any feedback about these procedures. I would also appreciate any referrals to Glaucoma surgeons in the New York area who take insurance.

My evaluation Icare ONE tonometer arrived today. I will compare it to:

    * Icare TA01i
    * Reichert 7CR Tonometer
    * Pascal Dynamic Contour Tonometer
    * Ocular Response Analyzer
    * Reichert AT555 Tonometer
    * maybe another one or two tonometers...

Look for a full review in the near future on FitEyes.com. UPDATE: I have decided not to publish my review of the Icare ONE at this time. Please read Are handheld or portable tonometers appropriate for home eye pressure monitoring?

Let me offer an analogy. If I were reviewing golf clubs, I would not include a review of a baseball bat. A baseball bat is not appropriate for playing golf. During the process of evaluating the Icare ONE, I came to a broader conclusion about all handheld tonometer and their appropriateness for self-tonometry (home eye pressure monitoring). Therefore, I feel it is better to have that general discussion first. You can read my thoughts here: Are handheld or portable tonometers appropriate for home eye pressure monitoring?

There is a related discussion on the Icare ONE here: New iCare ONE Tonometer Designed for Home Eye Pressure Monitoring

For now, here are some pictures of my evaluation Icare ONE tonometer.

Just arriving via FedEx (below). Some tonometers it will be evaluated against are shown in the background.

I came across this book --

i've found this story about the waratah essence.. do you know something more?

Australian Bush Flower: Waratah Essence

The following Case Histories have been provided by independent practitioners.

Case History 1

Had a young woman as a client who had glaucoma. She took Waratah as two weeks on and two weeks off, and the glaucoma was reversed.

Cure for glaucoma soon, says new research
newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-125456.html

October 6th, 2009 SindhToday
Toronto, Oct 6 (IANS) Cure for glaucoma which leads to blindness may be on its way.

Canadian researchers have discovered an unidentified form of circulation in the human eye which may provide important clues to glaucoma.

The human eye is considered to lack lymphatics – a circulation responsible for pumping fluid and waste out of tissues.

But now researchers at the Universityof Toronto and the local St Michael’s Hospital say the inability to clear that fluid from the eye is linked to glaucoma which currently affects over 66 million people worldwide.

A research study presented as a "poster" at ARVO 2010 indicated that the position of one's head (and body) during sleep can have an effect on intraocular pressure. For example, your eye pressure may be lower if you sleep on your back compared to sleeping on your side. (Furthermore, in my own experience, sleeping on your stomach may be the worst for IOP.)

Not discussed in this particular study was any difference in intraocular pressure between eyes. There is some evidence that if you sleep on your left side, intraocular pressure in the left eye could be higher.

I went to the eye doctor for a check up last week. Well before I went I drank two cups of coffee on a empty stomach, and the night before was up all night feeding my newborn. Anyway I went to the doctor and he said my eye pressure was 26 in the left and 21 in the right. He check my optic nerve and said it was fine. After I left the doctor I stopped drinking caffeine and also started taking a multi vit for eyes and began a weight loss plan. Well three days later I went to get new Pres Glasses, and the guy at the shop checked my eye pressure, it was 17 on the left and 18 on the right.