IOP: Instruments to measure IOP

Abstract

Elevated intraocular pressure was first noted to be associated with blindness in the tenth century by an Arabic physician, At-Tabari, and was redescribed in 1622 as being associated with what came to be known as glaucoma by Richard Bannister [1]. Until the late nineteenth century, pressure was estimated by palpation through the eyelid - at best, a way to determine if the intraocular pressure (IOP) is low, medium, high, or very high. Obviously, a way to actually measure IOP was needed if glaucomatous conditions were to be diagnosed and treated effectively. This is especially true now that efficacy of lowering IOP in both ocular hypertension and glaucoma has been firmly established by large, randomized studies [2-7]. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.