What eye pressure is considered normal: main indicators and deviations

What is normal eye pressure? What it is? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. Eye pressure refers to the pressure that is created by the inner matter of the eyeball (intraocular fluid and the vitreous) on its rigid (fibrous) membrane - the sclera and cornea.

A person can feel eye pressure by pressing the eye with a finger (through the eyelid). Patients very often refer to this term as “fullness” in the eyes and heaviness against a background of various conditions (headaches, colds, glaucoma, inflammatory eye diseases, and so on). What is considered normal eye pressure? We will clarify this below.

General information

Eyes are one of the basic sensory organs through which a person understands the world. When the standard eye pressure is transformed, discomfort appears, which not only spoils the mood, but can also lead to dangerous exacerbations in the form of glaucoma and even loss of vision. In order to timely identify and eliminate pathological processes in the eyes, you need to be able to measure pressure and monitor it.

Few people know what eye pressure is considered normal. To stabilize the blood microcirculation in the eyes, which provides metabolic processes and the retina, adequate pressure is necessary inside the eyes. This norm is individual for each person and is generally considered ordinary when it does not go beyond the boundaries of reference indices. Each age group has its own standard values. If a person knows them, then he can understand why vision is getting worse and worse, and what to do about it. What is normal eye pressure? A table of IOP values ​​by measurement methods and ages will help you keep track of indicators:

IOP in young

What is normal eye pressure in young people? Balanced eye pressure is a sign of the absence of ophthalmic ailments. Without pathologies at a young age, its level fluctuates very rarely. This occurs most often due to overstrain of the organs of vision at work.

For everyday IOP, the norm in adults changes in the region of 10-20 mm Hg. Art. Deviations may indicate that processes have begun in the optic nerve or retina, the first signs of which are headache, blurred picture and pain in the eyes. If symptoms persist for more than seven days, then an examination by an eye doctor is necessary.

IOP after 60 years

What eye pressure values ​​are considered normal in people after 60 years? In individuals without eye abnormalities up to 40 years old, vision remains excellent, however, due to aging, the body begins to imperceptibly deteriorate. The anatomical properties are such that in women the eye pressure transforms faster, they are more likely to experience eye ailments. The norm of IOP in men changes more smoothly.

At 50, pressure stabilizes. In the absence of acquired or congenital ocular ailments, it reaches a value of 10-23 mm Hg. Art. Changes occur spasmodically and are predetermined by an exacerbation of chronic ailments.

In women, the pressure in the eyes rises during menopause after 40 years, when the level of estrogen in the blood drops. In humans, the retina changes at the age of 60, which entails an increase in pressure up to 26 mm Hg. Art. according to Maklakov, the appearance of glaucoma and cataracts.

Norm for glaucoma

What is normal eye pressure for glaucoma? If the IOP increases, this indicates that the processes of changing microcirculation of blood appeared in the eye. This nuance is an omen of glaucoma. Both at the initial stage of the disease, and during its further development, it is necessary to take pressure indicators twice a day - in the morning and in the evening (before the formation of an objective picture).

For old people with a terminal phase, measurements are carried out 3-4 times a day. The average IOP for glaucoma is determined in the range from 20 to 22 mm RT. Art. At the final stage, the value reaches 35 mm Hg. Art.

Pressure Measurement Methods

So, you already know the rate of deviation of intraocular pressure. The patient cannot independently determine this value, since for this it is necessary to have special medical devices. The most common values ​​in numbers are natural pressure and the result of measurements using Maklakov’s technology.

In all cases, the basis of the data is the eye response to the force applied to it. According to the exposure options, the measurement can be different - non-contact and contact. In the first case, an air directed flow affects the eye, and in the second, the surface of the eye touches the measuring device. The clinic can offer you such tonometry technologies:

• apparatus "Pascal";
• according to Maklakov;
• pneumotonometer;
• an electronograph;
• contactless tonometry;
• Goldman device;
• ICare tonometer.

Many people ask: “How to measure eye pressure? And what norm is acceptable here? ” The tonometry procedure does not cause pain and gives a minimum of discomfort. An experienced ophthalmologist sometimes determines an increase in pressure on the eyeball by pressing with his fingers. However, when healing and recognizing glaucoma, ultra-precise measurements are needed, because the miscalculation is even at 1 mmHg. Art. may have dangerous consequences.

Daily tonometry

Everyone needs to know the norm of intraocular pressure in adults. People with glaucoma or other ocular ailments should regularly monitor IOP. Therefore, in order to correct healing and make an accurate diagnosis, patients are often prescribed daily tonometry.

The procedure is extended for 7-10 days and consists in fixing the eye parameters three times a day, but preferably at identical intervals. All marks are recorded in the observation diary, then the doctor displays the maximum and least deviation from the norm.

Transformation Options

We continue to find out what eye pressure is. Symptoms of high blood pressure may be identical to signs of other ailments. Many patients think about hypertension too late, attributing its initial symptoms to household causes - overwork and fatigue, a long stay in the lenses.

But the actual detection of anomalies can justify the presence of other unhealthy processes in the body. It can accompany heart diseases and blood vessels, hormonal disorders.

Eye hypotension

Do you have normal intraocular pressure? Identify negative symptoms on time. A decrease in IOP in current medicine is not so common and leads to exacerbations (up to blindness). Low eye pressure is dangerous in that it does not have pronounced signs. Patients come to see a doctor, having partially lost their vision.

The process of blindness can be stopped, but it will not work to return vision to its original level. In order to detect low blood pressure on time, you need to undergo a scheduled physical examination once every six months. Hasty healing can preserve the sharpness of vision and prevent the development of the disease.

Remember that low IOP is no less dangerous than high. If it is observed for more than a month, then there may come a sharp loss of visual acuity.

Ophthalmic hypertension

Increased pressure in the eye is common and has different indicators (depending on the age and gender of the patients). This ailment can appear in a person of any age. The violated IOP norm is most aggressive in women, especially in the elderly, transforming the fundus.

This disease is also susceptible to babies. They have pain during blinking, headache and signs of “tired eyes”. If you do not start treating ophthalmic hypertension on time, it will give complications to the hormonal system, heart and blood vessels, and lead to cataracts and glaucoma.

How to normalize IOP?

Hypertension in the permanent stage leads to glaucoma and requires surgical intervention, therefore, at the early stage of detecting deviations, standardizing intraocular pressure is very important. You can achieve a positive effect with the help of special eye drops, for example:

• Timolol
• Azopt;
• "Travatan" and others.

The drug should be prescribed by a doctor, it is better not to self-medicate here. The patient at home can perform some actions that will help reduce hypertension and preserve vision:

1. Do physical education. Great for jogging, aerobics, cycling. You need to train three to five times a week for 30 minutes a day.
2. Follow a diet. From the diet, it is desirable to completely eliminate foods that increase the level of insulin in the blood - sugar, potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, cereal and oatmeal. It is good to eat dark berries - blackberries, blueberries, as well as vegetables containing lutein - spinach, broccoli, Brussels sprouts.
3. You also need to take omega-3 fatty acids. They can be taken in the form of food supplements or obtained naturally - with fish (salmon, herring, tuna, salmon).

If IOP at the border of the norm?

All ophthalmologists admitted that an IOP of 21 mm is the upper limit of the norm. Here it is very important to understand that the results strongly depend on the method of measuring IOP. For example, during a lying diagnosis, the level of eye pressure will be 1-4 mm higher than when sitting.

And if more?

Doctors should consider all indicators above 21 mm suspicious. If the pressure is higher than 24 mmHg. Art., the patient should be urgently examined for glaucoma. IOP rates for women and men are shown in the following table:

What affects IOP? It depends on the time of day, in the morning it has the highest value. In 80% of individuals, the peak in the rise in eye pressure is recorded from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. IOP decreases in the evening and becomes minimal at night. These vibrations in a healthy person should not go beyond 3-5 mm Hg. Art. during the day.

It should also be noted that the pressure of the left and right eyes may be different. Here the so-called asymmetry takes place. This difference in the norm should not be more than 4 mm RT. Art.

What is the target IOP?

The concept of IOP is purely individual. Eye doctors have special technologies for calculating the norm. This is most important for those who have glaucoma. The doctor calculates how much it is necessary to lower the pressure in a particular patient in order to preserve vision. He selects therapy, analyzing the results. Such a calculation is called “target IOP” or “target pressure”.

The most accurate technique

It is known that IOP is provided by the difference in the rate of decrease and addition of fluid in the chambers of the eye. The first is coordinated by counteraction in the outflow system - the trabecular mesh in the corner of the frontal chamber, the second ensures the release of moisture by the growths of the ciliary body.

The only absolutely accurate way to measure IOP is considered to be gauge. To measure pressure through the cornea, the doctor inserts a pressure gauge needle into the anterior chamber, performing direct measurements. Naturally, this technique is not used in clinical practice.

In Russia, Maklakov tonometry (as we discussed above) and non-contact tonometry are usually used . Take care of your eyes and be healthy!