Intraocular pressure measurement with the Tono-Pen through soft contact lenses

We evaluated a miniaturized digital and electronic tonometer, the Tono-Pen, for accuracy of intraocular pressure measurement in the presence of a contact lens. In the manometric study, the Tono-Pen was used to measure a known intraocular pressure, ranging from 10 mm Hg to 60 mm Hg in a cadaver eye over soft contact lenses with different powers and a plano-T bandage lens. There was significant bias in pressure measurement over all contact lenses except for the plano-T, which had no bias at any level. In the clinical study, the intraocular pressures of 40 eyes in 20 normal patients were measured with and without a plano-T contact lens in place. Analysis of variance showed no significant interactive effect between the right and left eyes, with or without the lens. There was no significant difference in the Tono-Pen measurement of intraocular pressure over a plano-T contact lens compared with no lens.