Glaucoma Care

Glaucoma Testing

At Advanced Cataract & Glaucoma Care PLLC, we perform glaucoma testing with advanced technology to help detect changes in your eyesight often before you can detect changes.

What can I expect during a glaucoma examination?    Dr. Sheets will perform an examination of your eyes and optic nerves (ophthalmoscopy) and will measure your intraocular pressure (tonometry).  Other components may include measuring the corneal thickness (pachymetry), evaluating your peripheral field of vision (perimetry), evaluating the eye’s natural drainage (gonioscopy) and computerized optic nerve analysis (optical coherence tomography – OCT).

Slit Lamp Exam.  This uses a specially designed microscope to examine the cornea, iris, lens and front of the eye.

Optic Nerve and Retinal Exam.  This eye exam is performed with your pupils (iris) dilated to more completely evaluate the cataract and look for other causes of vision loss of the retina or optic nerve in the back of the eye.

OCT.  Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a high definition scan of the macula, retina, and optic nerve.  Dr. Sheets uses higher resolution spectral domain OCT to best evaluate these areas. This test just takes a couple of minutes, and provides information to help diagnose and track glaucoma for stability.

Tonometry.  This is how we determine the eye’s intraocular pressure.  This is typically done with the gold standard Goldman applanation tonometry. Sometimes iCare tonometry is utlized in the cases of corneal disease or blepharospasm.

Pachymetry.  This ophthalmology exam measures the thickness of the cornea.  The Ocular Hypertension Treatments Study showed that patients with thin corneas were more susceptible to glaucoma damage, and those with thicker corneas were less susceptible.

Perimetry (Peripheral Visual Field Testing).   This “Field Vision” test is one of the mainstays of diagnosing and monitoring glaucoma since it is the main thing that is used to determine if there is vision loss from glaucoma.   This test typically takes about 5 minutes per eye in a quiet, dark room. The patient is instructed to focus on a central target and then click a handheld button when tiny white lights flicker in the peripheral vision.