Intraocular pressure modulation with thermal stimuli

TL;DR

This study shows that applying thermal masks can change eye pressure, with cold masks lowering it and hot masks raising it.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that intraocular pressure can be modulated using controlled thermal stimuli via a face mask.

Findings

Cold masks significantly reduced intraocular pressure after 10 minutes.

Hot masks significantly increased intraocular pressure after 10 minutes.

Normothermic masks had no significant effect on intraocular pressure.

Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether early-stage intraocular pressure can be modulated
using a thermal face mask.

In this prospective clinical study, healthy participants were randomized on a 1:1:1
allocation ratio to three mask groups: hypothermic (G1), normothermic (G2), and
hyperthermic (G3). After randomization, 108 eyes from 108 participants were submitted to
clinical evaluations, including measurement of initial intraocular pressure (T1). The
thermal mask was then applied for 10 minutes, followed by a second evaluation of
intraocular pressure (T2) and assessment of any side effects.

The hypothermic group (G1) showed a significant reduction in mean intraocular pressure
between T1 (16.97 ± 2.59 mmHg) and T2 (14.97 ± 2.44 mmHg) (p<0.001). G2
showed no significant pressure difference between T1 (16.50 ± 2.55 mmHg) and T2
(17.00 ± 2.29 mmHg) (p=0.054). G3 showed a significant increase in pressure from
T1 (16.53 ± 2.69 mmHg) to T2 (18.58 ± 2.95 mmHg) (p<0.001). At T1,
there was no difference between the three study groups (p=0.823), but at T2, the mean
values of G3 were significantly higher than those of G1 and G2 (p<0.00).

Temperature was shown to significantly modify intraocular pressure. Thermal masks allow
the application of temperature in a controlled, reproducible manner. Further studies are
needed to assess the duration of these effects and whether they are reproducible in
patients with pathologies that affect intraocular pressure.

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