This is a truly amazing piece of new technology that vastly improves early detection of many sight threatening retinal diseases such as glaucoma macular degeneration and diabetic eye disease. Previously this equipment was only available in the hospital eye service but is becoming increasingly available in optometry practices and I am delighted to say that we have recently acquired it here.
How does it work?
It projects a low intensity, harmless laser into the eye and compares the reflected beam with a reference beam. Analyzing the coherence of the two beams enables the machine to build up a detailed three dimensional cross section of the retina, giving information on the health of your eyes not previously available by any other means.
Why Heidelberg?
This particular make of O.C.T. is the preferred hospital choice and is also preferred by NASA being used on board the international space station. It is different from other makes as is remembers the exact position of images so that future comparisons are much more accurate.
What sort of image does it produce?
It produces a much clearer retinal photograph than a standard camera, it doesn't require dilating drops and even seems to work through small pupils and cataract.
