Ocular Hypertension

[sallie1804]

Hi , l have never posted before but have found this site so helpful. I was wondering if anyone else has suffered from ocular hypertension due to the streroids ? I have pmr and gca and cannot get lower than 5mg and am also on methertrexate . Unfortunatley at my last visit to the opticians for contact lenses she found l had high eye pressure and referred me to an eye consultant . Fast forward 5 months l am now starting on my second sort of eye drops as the first type have had no effect and there was talk of laser treatment . The consultant believes it has been brought on by the steroids .

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It is a listed adverse effect and it is advised we should have regular eye pressure checks when on pred. But it is not inevitable - my eye pressures haven't budged in over 10 years on pred - the local specialist told me it either happens fairly soon or it doesn't happen at all.

There are people on the forum who have had raised pressures which they managed with drops and found they improved at lower doses. Since you are at a low dose it sounds as if you are someone where pred may have brought it forward, you would possibly have developed raised pressures eventually anyway.

Interesting you are been told about the laser procedure - it has been possible to relief the pressure as part of cataract ops for some time. This new procedure is expected in the long term to save the NHS money and patients the bother of drops. It was written about on the forum a few months ago.

[sallie1804 in reply to PMRpro]

Hi thanks very much for your reply and info , very interesting .

[Koalajane]

An opthamologist told me that I had glaucoma as it was discovered that my eye pressures were high.

At my next eye appointment another opthamologist (her boss I think) said he thought it was ocular hypertension but would check to see how thick my cornea were. They are thick and apparently that can give an incorrect reading.

At another appointment another opthamologist tested the pressure with a different piece of equipment (not what I call the puff test) and said they were fine

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Koalajane]

Glaucoma is a set of things - not just raised pressures but the raised pressure is what leads to the other things. Everyone on pred should be told to get their pressures checked at least annually. But one feels it would be nice if the people we regard as the experts could get their ducks in a row ...

[Koalajane in reply to PMRpro]

I wasn’t surprised by the more senior opthamologist saying the first one had it wrong. I really did not like her. I have to have eye injections every couple of months and my eye pressures are checked every time. I was going to say I am lucky to have them checked regularly but I would rather not have the eye injections!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Koalajane]

OTOH - at least you HAVE the option of those injections ...

[Koalajane in reply to PMRpro]

Yes and the option is have the injections or lose your sight so I know why I decided to have them