Goldmann applanation tonometer

White coat hypertension (or white coat syndrome) is a widely recognized blood pressure phenomenon. However, white coat ocular hypertension is not yet recognized by the medical community. One of the first reports of white coat ocular hypertension was published Tuesday, April 24, 2007 here on my blog in an article titled White Coat Syndrome for Eye Pressure.

Today's article represents a follow up to that first report. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if my intraocular pressure is again different when measured in the doctors office compared to when measured at home.

I define white coat ocular hypertension as a situation where patients exhibit elevated eye pressure (intraocular pressure) in the doctor's office but lower eye pressure at home (or in similar situations where they are comfortable). Patients with white coat ocular hypertension will often experience elevated eye pressure under stressful situations other than the physician's office. My data reported below and in the first report of white coat ocular hypertension fit this definition well.