Had successful iridotomies but pressure is still high. Forgot to ask the specialist what causes this. Can anyone help!

[Dobergirl]

Hello,

I was diagnosed with narrow angles and had laser irodotomy done on them in Jan ‘23. Fortunately it was picked up at an opticians appointment and I didn’t have a closure attack!

I recently had a check up and my pressures were 34 in both eyes. The specialist said the iridotomies were working well. He also said I don’t seem to have any damage to my optic nerve but he started me on Monopost to try to lower the pressures.

So, my question is….If I now have good drainage through the iridotomoes why is my pressure still so high? Does this mean I have the potential for open angle glaucoma too? Do many people have this as well as narrow angles?

I am back to see my specialist in December so will be asking him all of the questions that I forgot to last time but would be interested to know if anyone has any thoughts on this.

He did the test on my cornea and said it was only just below average which is strange because when I had the laser done the specialist there said my corneas were fairly thick and this could make my pressures appear higher than they are.

As you can tell, I’m a little confused!

[Pley]

I to have narrow angle glaucoma and was diagnosed just over 10 years ago. However to keep my pressures under control as well as the laser treatment I've needed the lenses replaced in both eyes (cataract surgery) and I still need daily eye drops.My understanding is narrow angle and open angle glaucoma are different and separate conditions. But give the same outcome of damaging the optic nerve if untreated.

We are all different and so the treatment we all need will be very different and we all respond differently to each treatment. But I to have thick corneas.

Hope this helps.

[KieranGlaucomaUK Administrator]

Hi Dobergirl. If your iridotomies were successful it could be that you have open angle glaucoma as well as narrow angles. It could be something called mixed mechanism glaucoma, or it could be that you just have high eye pressure (ocular hypertension). Or, it could be that your narrow angles have been 'corrected' and you now have open angle glaucoma. Good to hear that you have an appointment in December and hopefully you will get some more answers then. I wouldn't be able to give you a definite answer as it sounds like more tests are needed, but it is good to hear you are on eye drops.

I can't speak for the part about the cornea. It is correct that thicker corneas can show higher readings of intraocular pressure, which could make sense to why your eye pressures were 34.