What does the puff of air in the eye test for?
The eye air puff test is truly what it sounds like: a machine called a tonometer will blow a light puff of air into your eye, while you look into a light. Though quick and painless, the test reveals vital information on the actual pressure your eyes can withstand. This is called your intraocular pressure (IOP).
How does the air puff measure eye pressure?
The puff test is a non-contact tonometry test that puffs a small burst of air into your eye. The air bounces back to the tonometer and gives the machine a reading of your eye’s intraocular pressure (IOP), or pressure inside the eye.
What is the puff test?
The “air puff test” is a slang term for non-contact tonometry (NCT), a test used during an eye exam to measure the pressure inside your eye. The air puff test gives your eye doctor an eye pressure reading known as intraocular pressure (IOP), which helps detect glaucoma.
Do they still do the puff test for glaucoma?
Many eye doctors have ditched the air puff test and switched to other, more reliable methods of tonometry to measure eye pressure and help detect glaucoma. One of these methods is applanation (Goldmann) tonometry. The eye care professional touches your cornea with the tip of the tonometer.
Is the eye puff test necessary?
No! The puff of air measures the fluid pressure in your eyes, know as intraocular pressure (IOP). This measure of pressure inside the eye is very important in determining your risk for glaucoma.
How accurate is the puff test for glaucoma?
But the studies show that air puff tonometers are accurate for most people when compared to Goldmann tonometers. If you are interested in self-tonometer, don’t let someone’s bias (even if that someone is your ophthalmologist) tell you that air puff tonometers are not accurate. That itself is an inaccurate statement.
How accurate is air puff tonometry?
Results: Air puff tonometer had an overall accuracy of 49.70% to measure intraocular pressure within ± 2 mm Hg difference compared with Goldmann applanation tonometer. At all ranges of intraocular pressures Air puff tonometer measured higher (mean 2.87 mm Hg) values than Goldmann applanation tonometer.
What is a pressure test for the eyes?
Tonometry is a quick and simple test that checks the pressure inside your eyes. The results can help your doctor see if you’re at risk for glaucoma. Glaucoma is a disease in which the nerve of the eye (the optic nerve) is gradually damaged over time, resulting in a loss of vision.