Pressure Against Optic Nerve?

Question

Is he / she checking for pressure against the optic nerve... or is it something strictly done when you go to the eye doctor?

And if he does not... what are the symptoms of pressure against the optic nerve? I'm kinda freaked out now because I've had some real bad eye symptoms like burning and eye fatigue which I figured was eye strain and I can't get a doctors appointment until Wednesday but I happened to stumble across something about optic nerve pressure and brain tumours... needless to say, I'm freaked out.

Answer 1

You would need to see an optometrist or opthamalogist to check for this. All your primary doctor can do is look inside your eye with an opthalmascope. Unless there was a tumor at the back of your eye, your primary doctor would not catch it.

Are you having any other symptoms? If there really is pressure on your Optic Nerve you should be losing some portion of your visual field (most likely peripheral.) Again, you have to see an eye doctor for a thorough visual field test.

I would think it best not to get too worked up over this. Do you currently wear corrective lenses? If not it could simply be time that you do, or it could be something like chronic dry eye. Don't jump to conclusions until you see an eye doctor.

Answer 2

Don't get too worked up.  Get a referal from your doctor to see an ophthalmologist who can do a complete eye exam, including checking your optic nerve.  It could also be allergies, have you tried taking some allergy medicine like benedryl or sudafed?