Converting measurements

[merrylander]

About four weeks ago I went in for my regular exam at my opthalmologist's. His assistant did all the pre exam stuff, eye drops,pressure test, eye chart.

He seemed qite concerned as he said my right eye was 41 torr and the keft was 17 torr. Apparently 17 is acceptable but 41 is not. So he prescribed eye drops and return in a week. After checking the pressure he was all smiles, the right eye was now at 14 and the left was 11 (Out of symosthy as it got no drops). Th PITA is that I will be on them for the rest of my life I gather.

Anyhow I got curious - what the hell is a torr in English? It is equivalent to 1 mmHg so 41 mmHg comes in somewhere less than a pound per sq. in. but still enough in the eye to damage the nerve. I do feel that now the pressure is down that the vision in that eye has improved. He has me scheduled for some further tests that will, I gather, determine how much of the macula still finctions well.

So after all that I now know what in hell a torr is. How I made it this far through life without that knowledge I shall never know.