ABSTRACT
The influence of the patient's position (sitting or supine) on the intraocular pressure has been examined by means of Goldmann applanation-tonometry. The statistical analysis shows that the intraocular pressure decreases after the first measurement. This is the reason for measuring higher values in the first position, irrespective wether the first measurement is done in sitting or supine position. Analysing the values of steady state pressure i.e. 12 min after taking or changing position indicates a little higher mean value of intraocular pressure in the sitting position of the patient. The difference of mean valuse of sitting ans supine position of the patient is not significant. There are patients who have always higher others have always lower values of intraocular pressure in the supine position. These observations described earlier by Strobl and Follmann, have been confirmed by repeated measurements on 19 patients with differences in both directions of 2 to 4 mm Hg. For this reason it seems not feasible to use a statistical mean value of a population to correct the intraocular pressure of a particular case after changing position.
