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Dr. Janet A Betchkal, MD has not taken the time to educate herself about self-tonometry and she is generally dismissive and not supportive of the practice. It is possible this will change in the future if one or more of her patients helps educate her.

There may not be any ophthalmologist anywhere who is more interested in self-tonometry than Dr. Robert Ritch in New York City. People come from all over the world to see him. He is one of the top glaucoma specialists in the world.

See this blog post for more about Dr. Ritch:

http://fiteyes.com/Robert-Ritch-Glaucoma-Specialist

See these links for more information, including his office locations:

The only Glaucoma specialist in Northwest Ohio last year was ...

In the last several months, the following articles appeared:

I don't want my whole life to be consumed with IOP, but obviously most things that are good for our health in general are good for our eyes.

Hi Dave,

I've had glaucoma since my early twenties, 41 now. Thanks for your website, to say it has been helpful is an understatement.

I wanted to bring your attention to some glaucoma news I found while googling, I dont think it is already covered in the news section. Its on experimental eye drops containing NGF's (nerve growth factor) which work a bit like stemcells if i understand it correctly. In the small scale experiment lost vision has been (partially )recovered. It sure sounds like a miracle cure.

Hello - I feel as though I have been tossed in the middle of the ocean and been told I better learn to swim! I've been a glaucoma suspect for 15 or 20 years. I'm now a "strong" suspect and have some damage in both eyes. My pressure is now 21 and 22. From what the doctor has said, I won't be surprised if he puts me on drops next time.

I'm now going in for pressure readings every 3 months.

My eye doctor yesterday recommended drops because my eye pressure was at 23 mmHg. He said it was really 25 if you figure in central corneal thickness (CCT).

I recently had an SLT procedure. Prior to having the procedure, I did a great deal of research. One of the things I read was that you feel little to no discomfort during the procedure. Mt doctor confirmed this. During the procedure, I had pain, not at first but by the midpoint of the procedure. By the end of the procedure I could not have taken much more. It shocked me because I have a high threshold for pain.

About 10 years ago I've visited my ophthalmologist for the first time when I suffered from herpes zoster (also known as zona) in the facial area, close to my right eye. It was then, for the first time in my life, my eye pressure was measured. She noticed an elevated eye pressure and asked me whether I had family members suffering from glaucoma (I dont have any btw). We didn't pay much of attention to the IOP at that time as the primary reason for visiting the ophthalmologist was to treat the herpes zoster infection in order to protect the right eye.

As a user of tonometry are you aware of your IOP before you do the tonometer. That is, can you feel what your IOP is likely to be before you check the pressure based on your activity before checking or your mood or emotional state?

I ask this since some people have said that they sense when their IOP is higher than usual ie., they feel the pressure. Do you feel or sense the pressure and if so has the tonometer coincided with what you think your IOP might be?

Thanks

A

I have no doubt the the condition of the liver influences our vision. I think subtle (subclinical) liver issues, such as those picked up by Ayurvedic or TCM pulse diagnosis, can manifest as vision problems.

How well would the various self tonometry machines being discussed on this site be useable by someone with nystagmus?  I'm not sure how to characterize severity; the doctors can take readings with the Goldmann tonometer but it sometimes takes them more than one try.

Dave,  are you going to share with us your new info. on how you've lowered your IOP.  You mentioned earlier good results with Serene Impulse and some other things like DHA, cod liver oil, liver cleanse, etc.  Just wanted to see if you were ready to share.

In 1995, I wrote my master's thesis in the field of millimeter-wave effects on the humans.

About me:  http://www.cemmed.edu.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63...

Today, the most modern equipment in the world (2009) in this field, saved my eye !!!  Now, I am preparing a scientific article on this method, a scientific conference in the fall. 

Dr. Amy Hennessy of The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore stated "Getting eyedrops into the eye is not the same as asking a patient to swallow a pill, or use a skin cream. It's easier said than done."

Consider 64% of glaucoma patients state they follow physcian's instructions "Extremely closely". Yet :

Dr. Kondrot,

Where can I purchase the "green spectacles" worn by the subjects in your experiements?  How long does one have to wear them during the day to get the IOP lowering benefits?  Is it best to wear them several times per day?

Thank you for your time,

Jill

Can you wear glasses if your optic nerve is damaged?

My cataract surgery is scheduled for November. After doing much research online, I decided not to have the cataract surgery at the same time as glaucoma surgery.  And I chose the doctor in my University ophthalmology department who performs the most cataract surgeries. I will see her in October and will discuss IOL choices with her.  I prefer to do monovision (near vision in one eye and far vision in the other) with monofocal aspheric lenses.