USER CASE ANESTHETIC EYE DROPS AND CALIBRATION ARE NO LONGER NECESSARY, AND THE NUMBER OF MEA- SUREMENTS HAS DOUBLED. What do you think about the advantage that anesthetic eye drops and calibrations are now unnecessary? The shorter pre-measurement preparation time is a great advantage. Obviously, you do not have the trouble of administer- ing eye drops, nor do you need to worry about causing discomfort with the anaesthetic drops or about changes in lachrymal fluid levels. Nor is there any worry about long- term side effects (such as dry eye). You have to be careful when using anesthetic eye drops in cats, so I think it is safer if you do not need eye drops. Using older tonometers was sometimes time-consum- ing and frustrating because you had to keep recalibrat- ing. If this kind of thing continues, you tend to become wary of using IOP measurement at all, but TONOVET takes away the stress of measurement, because it does not require calibration, and I have therefore become much keener to take IOP measurements - I had been negative about them. As a result I now take twice as many measure- ments. Animal hospitals require all kinds of tests, depend- ing on each case, and it is important to be able to get these over with smoothly and quickly. I think TONOVET is the only tonometer that meets that requirement, as it allows simple and easy IOP measurements. IT’S EASY TO USE AND THE DATA ARE STABLE. How do you rate TONOVET’s measurement data? My impression is that the instrument always produces stable, highly reproducible data. The old tonometers had a large, flat contact panel, and the measurement was taken by pressing this against the cornea, so the data were affected by differences in things such as the position of the person taking the measurement and how they pressed the instrument against the eye, or the curvature of the cornea. On the other hand, with TONOVET, I think there are fewer mistakes with the size of the eyeball, the curvature of the cornea or the angle of contact, because the probe is smaller and the measure- ment is taken by bringing this into contact with the cornea at a single point. What do you think about IOP measurement and data for cats? In my experience, TONOVET produces slightly higher results in cats. The problem with cats is that the inside of their cornea is uneven, with thicker areas and thinner areas, which in my opinion influences results. There are always differences in the way that testing equipment, not just tonometers, produce data, so it is im- portant for the person taking the measurement to get used to the equipment and understand its peculiarities. It is therefore important to follow a train of thought that says ‘data from this equipment produces this kind of result, which suggests this kind of illness.’ Because TONOVET allows anyone to easily measure IOP, I think it makes it easier to build up a lot of experi- ence and thus create that association. What is the ratio of dogs to cats for IOP measurements? I would say about 8:2. IF THE ANIMALS ARE LESS STRESSED, I AM LESS STRESSED. How do the animals behave during the mea- surement, compared to when using existing tonometers? Taking IOP measurements with animals that were previ- ously difficult to measure has become easier. I think TONOVET keeps the stress on the animal to a minimum, because there is no need for anaesthetic eye drops, so the measurement is quicker. It is very important not to cause stress, because if an animal has a bad experience, it will become difficult to examine and treat next time. I am also less stressed, because fewer animals are impossible to measure, and the preparation/measurement time is shorter. “TONOVET takes away the stress of measurement” “I now take twice as many measurements” 13
