Air Puff Test

Intraocular pressure (IOP) is the pressure inside of your eye. Tonometry measures IOP by recording the resistance of your cornea to pressure or indentation.

Tonometry is used to check for glaucoma, an optic nerve disease. One cause of glaucoma may be due to a buildup of fluid that does not drain properly out of the eye, thus affecting the optic nerve health.

A very well-known way to measure this pressure is with “a puff of air.”

Noncontact (or air-puff) tonometry (NCT) does not touch your eye but uses a puff of air to flatten your cornea. Noncontact tonometry does not use numbing eye drops, and may be a good “screening” test for those with high pressures or for children. However, this method may cause a lot of anxiety for patients. If someone has glaucoma, their IOP is NOT monitored with the NCT.

The standard method for measuring IOP is with Goldmann tonometry. This type of tonometry uses a small probe attached to a microscrope to gently flatten part of your cornea after numbing drops are used. Goldmann tonometry is very accurate.

At Full Spectrum Family Vision Care, we only use Goldmann tonometry to measure IOP. We do not use the NCT or "air puff" to measure your pressures.