тонометр icare® one

You are the spokesperson of the Finnish Glaucoma Association in the greater Helsinki area. What would you say is the role of the Association in the life of a glaucoma patient and in the surrounding society?In the six years that I have held this position our Association has focused on lobbying in the patientsвІ best interest and urging to help the progress of glaucoma care in general. There are several issues concerning the individual glaucoma patient: the so-called care guarantee and the service coupon system sound good but have not improved the situation from the patientsвІ point of view. Glaucoma is an illness that requires long term monitoring and treatment. The University Eye Clinic is still not able to follow through and offer all local patients the care they need. That is why the patients need a voice that speaks for them. Our role in the society is also important in spreading glaucoma knowledge and information on the risks it poses for the patient. Particularly the aging people are a group difficult to reach with the right information at the right time.

What effects - if any - have you noticed in the quality of your life and the way you feel?As far as only the glaucoma is concerned, surely the possibility to be aware of the changes in my IOP has helped - especially because I now know better in what kind of circumstances the pressure tends to increase.

In your opinion, how has the self measuring possibility made a difference in how your glaucoma is advancing? How has the treatment of your glaucoma changed?I have been under such close control and active care for so many years, that I really cannot find any great changes either way. However, it has been important to be able to verify, that in my case a certain type of pain I occasionally experience, is in fact always associated with an increase in my IOP.

How often do you control your IOP? How has the Icare ONE tonometer changed the frequency of your IOP controls?Before this possibility of having the self measuring tonometer at hand I used to go to the eye clinic for controls two or three times per year. Obviously now I can check my IOP even between those official controls and see what my real IOP level is and if there are peaks.

Do you find it easy to use? How long did it take to learn the procedure?Most people, I among them, learn to use this tonometer after just one try.

Marja, you are one of the many people in Finland to have experience with the Icare ONE self measuring tonometer. Is it your personal tonometer?Actually the tonometer belongs to our Association. Originally I was asked to test it in order to be able to instruct our members on how to use it. Now I am no longer the only one using it.

Icare interviewed Marja Kalvia, a Glaucoma Patient who is the spokesperson of the Finnish Glaucoma Association in the greater Helsinki area. She has been using the Icare ONE tonometer for about one year now.

Icare tonometers - Patient testimonials