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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffThese are some of the tests that can establish a diagnosis of glaucoma:
- Tonometry. Tonometry is a simple, painless procedure that measures your intraocular pressure, after numbing your eyes with drops. It is usually the initial screening test for glaucoma.
- Test for optic nerve damage. To check the fibers in your optic nerve, your eye doctor uses an instrument that enables him or her to look directly through the pupil to the back of your eye. This can reveal slight changes that may indicate the beginnings of glaucoma.
- Photographs and drawings of the optic nerve. These images may be useful for documenting the severity of the condition.
- Visual field test. To check whether your visual field has been affected by glaucoma, your doctor uses a special test to evaluate your peripheral (side) vision.
- Pachymetry. Your eyes are numbed for this test, which determines the thickness of each cornea, an important factor in diagnosing glaucoma. If you have thick corneas, your eye pressure reading may read artificially high even though you may not have glaucoma. Similarly, people with thin corneas can have normal pressure readings and still have glaucoma.
- Other tests. To distinguish between open-angle glaucoma and angle-closure glaucoma, your eye doctor may use a technique called gonioscopy in which he or she places a special lens on your eye to inspect the drainage angle. Another test, tonography, can measure how quickly fluid drains from your eye.
