{"id":2593,"date":"2022-01-05T13:18:26","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T13:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.springboard.pro\/?p=2593"},"modified":"2026-09-03T14:18:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T14:18:23","slug":"the-error-of-our-eye-directs-our-mind-the-importance-of-measuring-intraocular-pressure-correctly","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.sanner-group.com\/insights\/blog\/the-error-of-our-eye-directs-our-mind-the-importance-of-measuring-intraocular-pressure-correctly\/","title":{"rendered":"The Error of Our Eye Directs Our Mind: The Importance of Measuring Intraocular Pressure Correctly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Like most complex systems, the human eye occasionally malfunctions with potentially grave effects on lifestyle and mental health [1]. To assess whether a patient’s eye condition is improving under an established treatment, or whether a novel treatment shows promise, it is critical to measure the state of the eye and understand the results of those measurements.<\/p>\n

This article lays out the various ways that one can measure an important indicator of the health of the eye\u2014the intraocular pressure\u2014and the strengths and weaknesses of each technique. As specialists in medical device development, we hope that disseminating this understanding helps others in the field, such as developers of intraocular injections, to measure the effectiveness of their devices, and so best guide their development.<\/p>\n

What is intraocular pressure, and why is it important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The optic nerve is the electrical highway between the eye and the brain, and damage to the optic nerve head is a world-leading cause of irreversible blindness known as glaucoma [2]. The main factor that increases the risk of glaucoma is an elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), that is, the pressure of the fluid within the eye of a patient. Lowering the IOP improves patient outcomes and is the target of most glaucoma medications [3, 4, 5], and physicians regularly monitor IOP to screen, regulate and adjust glaucoma treatment [6, 7].<\/p>\n

How is intraocular pressure measured?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Because the eye is one of the most accessible organs of the body, it benefits from an unusually broad array of diagnostic tools and treatments. Invasive measurements of IOP such as ocular manometry (which involves the insertion of a fine needle into the patient\u2019s eye) are the most effective but are rarely carried out because the potential benefits are outweighed by the requirement of general anesthesia and risk of eye infections.<\/p>\n

Most measurements of IOP are instead non-invasive and take advantage of a form of the Imbert-Fick law [8, 9, 10], which can be interpreted as:<\/p>\n

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When a mass rests on a thin spherical vessel, the pressure within the vessel is equal to the weight of the mass divided by the contact area between the mass and the vessel.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The complexity of the eye requires some simplifying assumptions to be made to use the Imbert-Fick law to measure IOP. The two major assumptions are:<\/p>\n