Ocular Pressure / eye issues related to cpap mask types?

[chunkyfrog]

Both conditions need to be treated.
Both doctors need to be informed.
My drops go in, then the mask goes on.
A side effect of the drops is dry eye, so I choose a mask
that has the least leakage in the eye area;
and I use artificial tears to wet my eyes when I wake up.

[chunkyfrog]

Note: the knowledge about glaucoma has expanded vastly since I was diagnosed 26 years ago.
Some patients have NORMAL eye pressure, while some with high pressure may not develop
full-blown glaucoma if their pressures are controlled.
There is also evidence that limited oxygenation of the optic nerve causes damage.
Yet another argument for my beloved cpap machine!
All those years of eye drops (and cpap)--and NO damage--hopping for joy!

[Cpapian]

I wish I could remember what my last eye doctor fully said, it was something to the effect that my pressure was high, but in a good way and I am less at risk of glaucoma because of it. I'll have to dig around and se if I can find his exact wording.

[chunkyfrog]

Today my specialist said I have intraocular hypertension;
but measuring my pressures accurately is difficult because my corneal thickness is off the scale.
" . . . continue the same drops, checkups--but check fields yearly."

[Fetou]

Note: the knowledge about glaucoma has expanded vastly since I was diagnosed 26 years ago.
Some patients have NORMAL eye pressure, while some with high pressure may not develop
full-blown glaucoma if their pressures are controlled.
There is also evidence that limited oxygenation of the optic nerve causes damage.
Yet another argument for my beloved cpap machine!
All those years of eye drops (and cpap)--and NO damage--hopping for joy!

Do you know anything about just naturally large optic nerves? Every time I get an eye checkup to get my prescription so I can reorder the same contacts, they always go nuts over my optic nerves and give me a battery of side-vision tests and all kinds of other things looking for glaucoma. I talked to my dad, and he doesn't need prescription eyewear, but when they've tested his eyes they've always said the same thing to him.

Do I really have to keep doing these tests? It's not like they are getting bigger or there is any active worsening of it. That just seems to be the way they are, and I have a genetic basis without any symptoms ever presenting .

[chunkyfrog]

No idea. If they don't really know, they like to keep an "eye" on it.
I was only having the fields tested every 3 years--now I "get" to do it EVERY year.
Whoop te doo.

[howardwcampbelljr]

Given the choice of living an extra 20 years, but losing my sight,
I WOULD LEARN BRAILLE.
It is a no-brainer.

This is a solid point, but most CPAP users are told by their doctors that CPAP can only cause minor side effects. Very few docs consider that it could cause or exacerbate loss of sight.

[chunkyfrog]

Post edited--two years after the fact, because somebody's time machine is stuck on 2018.

[peelunkins]

CONCLUSIONS:
Patients with OSA demonstrated significant 24-hour IOP fluctuations, with the highest values at night. CPAP therapy causes an additional IOP increase, especially at night. Regular screening of visual fields and the optic disc is warranted for all patients with OSA, especially those treated with CPAP.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18326715

+1

[ChicagoGranny]

Given the choice of living an extra 20 years, but losing my sight,
I WOULD LEARN BRAILLE.
It is a no-brainer.

This is a solid point, but most CPAP users are told by their doctors that CPAP can only cause minor side effects. Very few docs consider that it could cause or exacerbate loss of sight.

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Normal IOP nyctohemeral rhythm is lost in most patients with severe apnea. IOP changes induced by CPAP are explained by restoring normal IOP rhythm rather than by a deleterious effect of CPAP.
Pepin (2010)