Now you know that we love our Eyewear here at Village Optician and we like nothing more than helping you to find your #ExceptionalEyewear, but that’s not all we do here. For most clients your eyewear experience with us starts with an eye examination and we have recently taken our eyecare to the next level. Let me explain all about the latest scanning technology we have added into our Durham practice.
It’s called Optomap Ultrawidefield imaging. As you can see from the picture below – the coloured part of the image on the right shows the area that a normal retinal camera can see. That area is limited by the pupil size and even if the pupil is dilated (made bigger using some eye drops) it only gets the centre of the back of the eye. Compare that with the Optomap image on the left (all in colour) and you can easily see the difference.
Optomap Scan on the left showing around 80% of the retina, the retinal camera view highlighted on the right showing about 15% of the retina.
So what is an Optomap Scan and why do we do it?
It’s an ultrawide scan of the back of the eye. It uses red and green lasers to produce an image showing more of the back of the eye than ever before, hence the term ultrawide. It allows us to see up to 80% of the retina - a normal eye examination can really only see about 20% of the retina, even a retinal camera can only see around 15%. Not only does an Optomap scan show us the far periphery of the retina (that you just can't see it without this technology), but it also gives us diagnostic and functional information about the retina and the health of your eyes. We just don't have any other way of seeing that far into the periphery of the retina, we can see parts of your eye with it that we couldn't before. If you want to know a bit more than have a look our video here.
Who needs an Optomap Scan?
Everyone. Really everyone. It is such a great diagnostic tool that everyone should have it done. It is the only way to see the peripheral parts of the retina. It is suitable for every age group - from 3 years old to 103. So if you want to have your scan to know that your eyes are healthy then give us a call or click through to book an Optomap eye examination now!
