Eye Disease and Special Testing
Everyone should have regular eye examinations. Ocular health encompasses more than contacts or glasses. Early detection of eye disease is critical to successful treatment. By the time symptoms of many diseases actually occur, the patient may already have permanent vision loss. Regular eye exams by our optometrist ensure that any health threat to vision is detected and appropriate measures are taken. A patient need not have a history of poor vision to suffer from an eye disease. Several diseases, such as glaucoma or macular degeneration, left untreated will irreversibly damage vision.
Headaches, a reduced or foggy field of vision, floaters or flashes in your vision, and eye strain can be indicators of a more serious vision problem. Please call our office immediately to schedule an appointment.
OPD III Topograpy
The OPD-Scan III is a diagnostic/refractive instrument that serves as an autorefractor, keratometer, and corneal topographer. A refraction is also known as a “vision test” and tells the doctor if you need prescription lenses as well as what prescription you need to see properly. A keratometer measures the curvature of the anterior surface of the cornea. A corneal topographer creates a three-dimensional map of the surface curvature of the cornea giving the ability to detect irregular conditions invisible to most conventional testing.
Retinal photography
We offer digital retinal photography to all our patients. We use a 6.2 megapixel digital camera to photograph the blood vessels, macula, and optic nerve on the inside of the eye. This picture gives us an extremely accurate reference point to use in the future to monitor for changes such as diabetes, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and high blood pressure.
After the picture is taken, a photo comes up on the computer, and we can immediately review the results with you.
Automated Phoropter
The automated TRS-5100 Total Refraction System has replaced our manual refractors in several exam rooms and allows the optometrist to control the refraction process through a touch screen keypad. It generates extremely precise and reliable digital refractions, transferring data automatically into the patient medical record.
Zeiss HD OCT – 400 Retinal Tomography
In recent years new techniques of optic nerve imaging have become available, such as optical coherence tomography or OCT. It is a laser-based, noncontact, noninvasive imaging technique that is capable of obtaining high resolution images of the retina and its components.
OCT is similar to ultrasound imaging except that light rather than sound waves are used. This results in a much higher resolution of approximately 10 microns, which is one millionth of a meter, in the retina. OCT provides direct, real-time, cross-sectional images of retinal tissue layers, allowing improved resolution and diagnostic capabilities of a variety of eye diseases or disorders. OCT has the capability of measuring the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in medical conditions such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetes, and retinal detachment. Early detection can aid in better control of disease progression and treatment.