Ocular Hypertension

Ocular hypertension is an increase in eye pressure above the normal range with no detectable change in vision or structural eye damage. The term is used to distinguish people with elevated pressure from those with glaucoma, a serious eye disease that causes damage to the optic nerve and vision loss.

Ocular hypertension can occur in people of all ages, but it occurs more frequently in African Americans, those over age 40 and those with family histories of ocular hypertension and/or glaucoma. It is also more common in those who are very nearsighted or who have diabetes.

Ocular hypertension has no noticeable signs or symptoms. We can check the pressure in your eyes with an instrument called a tonometer and can examine the inner structures of your eyes to assess your overall eye health.

Not all people with ocular hypertension will develop glaucoma. However, there is an increased risk of glaucoma among those with ocular hypertension, so regular comprehensive ophthalmological examinations are essential to your overall eye health.

There is no cure for ocular hypertension, however, careful monitoring and treatment, when indicated, can decrease the risk of damage to your eyes.  Detecting glaucoma early before visual loss is critical and the doctors here at Peninsula Laser Eye Medical Group have extensive experience in detecting and treating glaucoma.  We can use the OCT optic nerve analyzer to determine the baseline shape of the optic nerve so that we can detect early loss of optic nerve tissue before visual field loss occurs.

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