Should high eye pressure be treated

The normal IOP range is 10-21 mmHg. IOP above 21 mmHg can lead to glaucoma. Some people with IOP higher than 21 mmHg do not experience glaucomatous optic nerve damage or visual field defects on long-term clinical observation, a condition known as hypertelorism. This condition is called hypertension. Hypertension includes a subset of patients with early glaucoma. According to some data, glaucoma occurs in 5% of patients with hypertension after 10 years of treatment with IOP-lowering drugs, and in 10% of patients without treatment after 10 years. Clinically, we have to do glaucoma exclusion tests for high IOP, including visual field, optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus photography, IOP testing, 24-hour IOP, corneal thickness measurement, etc. if necessary, hospitalization. If the diagnosis of glaucoma is not confirmed after doing the above tests, patients are usually required to visit the hospital regularly for follow-up for 3-5 years, and individual patients need to be observed for 10 years. For adults with high IOP, if the IOP is greater than or equal to 25 mmHg and the corneal thickness is less than 550 UM, topical IOP-lowering eye drops are recommended. For hypertensive eye disease younger than 18 years old, the IOP may fluctuate more due to the unstable development of the eye, whether medication is given depends on the individual situation, but long-term follow-up is essential.