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Visual field testing and dry eyes
My mum has glaucoma and needs visual field testing every 6 months to measure progression, she has been fairly OK with her target pressures given by her doctor and has been fairly 'stable' for the last 10 years or so.
Now, in the past 6 months, she has been complaining of severe dry eyes to the extent that her eyes feel watery all the time and her vision is blurred. Endura worked for a while and then failed, Vidisic didn't seem to do much good and right now she is using Genteal several times a day, which seems to eliminate the watery feeling at least, but she complains her eyes still feel dry and sappy. She cannot tolerate air-cond environments for very long either and spending hours in a/c can trigger off a spell of terrible watery eyes and blurred vision.
Ever since complaining of dry eye symptoms, she had to have her visual field tests done by the eye doc. He said there was progression in the past 6 months, DESPITE everything having been stable in the past decade, and her achieving her target pressure. In fact it wasn't just mild progression, so it was extremely alarming for everyone. The doc is very dismissive about dry eye issues and refuses to even do the basic tests, i.e Schirmers etc. before doing visual field testing and just tells her to use lubricating eye drops. Now he is suggesting that she might need further surgery to lower her pressure in her bad eye even more.
My question is, are there any glaucoma sufferers here with dry eyes who think that their visual field testing has been negatively impacted by their dry eyes? The doctor's office is air-conditioned and needless to say, the stress levels are high and patients do not tend to blink a lot while taking the test, worsening the situation. I don't know whether that could be taken into account. Anyway the result of all this is that she has been given a third drop in the bad eye, which will probably worsen the dry eye symptoms!
We are just curious as to whether the visual field results can be interpreted in such a way to determine whether the worsening is due to dry eyes or actual glaucoma progression.
Thanks for any ideas!
mumsadvisor
Now, in the past 6 months, she has been complaining of severe dry eyes to the extent that her eyes feel watery all the time and her vision is blurred. Endura worked for a while and then failed, Vidisic didn't seem to do much good and right now she is using Genteal several times a day, which seems to eliminate the watery feeling at least, but she complains her eyes still feel dry and sappy. She cannot tolerate air-cond environments for very long either and spending hours in a/c can trigger off a spell of terrible watery eyes and blurred vision.
Ever since complaining of dry eye symptoms, she had to have her visual field tests done by the eye doc. He said there was progression in the past 6 months, DESPITE everything having been stable in the past decade, and her achieving her target pressure. In fact it wasn't just mild progression, so it was extremely alarming for everyone. The doc is very dismissive about dry eye issues and refuses to even do the basic tests, i.e Schirmers etc. before doing visual field testing and just tells her to use lubricating eye drops. Now he is suggesting that she might need further surgery to lower her pressure in her bad eye even more.
My question is, are there any glaucoma sufferers here with dry eyes who think that their visual field testing has been negatively impacted by their dry eyes? The doctor's office is air-conditioned and needless to say, the stress levels are high and patients do not tend to blink a lot while taking the test, worsening the situation. I don't know whether that could be taken into account. Anyway the result of all this is that she has been given a third drop in the bad eye, which will probably worsen the dry eye symptoms!
We are just curious as to whether the visual field results can be interpreted in such a way to determine whether the worsening is due to dry eyes or actual glaucoma progression.
Thanks for any ideas!
mumsadvisor
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