Abstract
Purpose :
To report a novel observation of chronic elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) from playing wind instrument in a series of pediatric patients.
Methods :
This is an observational case series of patients who presented to the pediatric ophthalmology department of our institution with chronic intraocular elevation, and had history of playing wind instruments for more than one year, that needed either medical or surgical intervention.
Results :
We report 6 pediatric patients who presented with IOP of 28 mm of Hg or higher in both eyes and had history of playing wind instruments like Saxophone, Clarinet,Trumpet, Flute and Oboe for one year or higher. All six patients had IOP elevations 10 mm of Hg or higher immediately after playing the instruments and IOP’s remained chronically elevated above 28 mm of Hg for greater than 6 months even after discontinuing the instruments. All 6 patients eventually required medical or surgical management to control the IOP.
Conclusions :
This study reports for the first time a cohort of patients that had chronic elevation of IOP and a history of playing wind instruments. This report speculates that there may be a link between playing wind instruments and chronic elevation of intraocular pressure. To date, little is known about the cause of juvenile open-angle glaucoma and studies are needed to help identify risk factors predisposing to this condition. The knowledge of this risk factor could aid in the early identification of children who are affected with juvenile open angle glaucoma before the onset of optic nerve damage or visual field loss.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.