A: This is a great question that gets asked a lot. The pressure inside your eye is completely unrelated to your blood pressure. The intra-ocular pressure system and the blood pressure are completely separate systems and fluid is not exchanged between them. Therefore, if you have high blood pressure you won’t necessarily have glaucoma.
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Tagged blindness, blood pressure, Glaucoma, hypertension, Optic Nerve
Research funded by Fort Worth based Alcon has found that the over expression of the gene sFRP1 elevates the pressure in an eye, thus greatly increasing a patient’s risk for developing glaucoma. Discovery of a gene responsible for causing glaucoma is great news! Glaucoma is the second leading cause of irreversible blindness in the United States. Making the diagnosis of glaucoma in its early stage is often difficult. Early diagnosis is very important to prevent loss of a patient’s peripheral vision. New technology such as scanning laser ophthalmoscopes have made early diagnosis much more reliable, however, a gene test would be great. I hope we will be able to use this technology in our offices soon. If you would like to see the entire article you can find it here.
Posted in eye, Glaucoma, Optic Nerve