Another question for you lovely lot!!

[Primarose]

When I first read the side effects of Prednisolone one of my many concerns was Glaucoma. I thought, how would I know if I had it.

I made an appointment with an Optician (Feb 2017) and he did confirm that the pressures in both eyes were high. He referred me to the eye hospital.

After lengthy tests they told me that I had Ocular Hypertension which was steroid induced. I asked the consultant what would have happened if I hadn't got to the Optician for a check up. He told me that I would most certainly have had Glaucoma. He also told me that this can happen as early as two weeks from taking high doses of steroids.

I've been using Latanoprost eye drops since Feb 2017, my last visit to the eye hospital (August 2017) confirmed that the eye pressures were normal but to carry with the eye drops until my next appointment which is in August of this year.

If I hadn't got myself to the Optician then it's quite likely that I would be suffering with Glaucoma by now.

Wouldn't it be helpful if medics were to advise you of this, not everyone has access to the net.

[SheffieldJane]

Yes absolutely, well caught. I have seen my optician several times during PMR and had her complete array of tests.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Everyone on steroids should be sent for a baseline occular pressures check (in the UK the optician does it luckily) which should then be checked at yearly intervals at the very least. Until a couple of years ago patients on long term steroids were entitled to a free eye check annually but that was stopped. The advice that two-yearly eye checks are appropriate for all older people is even more important - they catch all sorts of hidden illnesses.

We do say it repeatedly on the forums but with so many new people joining it gets missed. And quite how you get it to be part and parcel of the GPs' set of info when a patient is diagnosed and put on pred I have no idea.

If it is any consolation to others - according to the local hospital eye department here, once you have been on pred for a few years with no sign of either cataracts beginning to form or raised pressure the likelihood of either happening is small.