4D Eye Health Check

No. The Spectralis really is the most superior of its kind. But don’t just take our word for it; the same model of OCT scanner used in our practice is also used by NASA to assess the eyes of astronauts whilst in space. It’s their machine of choice for the same two reasons it is ours:

Reason 1. Its unbeatable Image Quality
It has a higher image quality than other OCT scanners (but that doesn’t mean the pictures just look prettier) it is accurate to 1 micron – that’s one thousandth of a millimetre! Other models of OCT are only accurate to 9 microns. That may still seem small, but that actually means you can’t differentiate all of the layers of tissue and are forced to combine up to 3 layers of tissue into one. If the Heidelberg Spectralis detects a problem, we will know its exact location.

Reason 2. It’s Unique Laser Tracking Technology
This allows us to monitor the health of your eyes accurately over time. The laser tracker means that after the first scan is performed, the machine will detect the exact same location time and time again. A little bit like a homing missile, it recognizes the right part and adjusts accordingly. Without this tracking technology, you will undoubtedly catch a different part in the eye because it would be next to impossible to recreate the same head position accurate to one thousandth of a millimetre. This means we will be confident about any ways the eye is changing. We’ll know if a problem area was getting better or worse, and any uncertainty that it looks different just because we captured a slightly different location will be eliminated.

Yes! Taking a photo of the back of the eye is commonplace in eye examinations today. Some opticians include it in the price of a sight test or you might have paid a small fee to have it done. If you’re diabetic, you’ll have these photographs taken on a regular basis, most likely at your GP surgery. Whilst this is a useful diagnostic tool, it does not show you any more of the eye than in your standard eye test. It is simply a photograph of what the optometrist can already see. OCT however, shows us all the layers of tissue that sit behind what you can see in a photograph.

The scan is usually very quick and is performed in about 1-2 minutes per eye. We recommend you allow around 20 minutes for the scan though, as this will give us time to discuss the results.

No, there’s no discomfort at all. There is no contact with the eye, there aren’t any bright flashes or puffs of air, and you don’t need to have any drops put in your eyes. You can also blink normally whilst having the scan. It simply involves you sitting still and focussing on a small blue cross.

The results are instant and we usually discuss them with you during your visit, although there might be the odd occasion where we need to get back to you.

Yes. In fact, if you have a cataract it’s all the more reason to have OCT. Cataracts form when the lens inside the eye loses transparency or becomes ‘cloudy’. This means it’s more difficult to get a good view of the back of the eye during your sight test. In OCT however, the safe light beam does not get obstructed by the cataract, so we can see the back of the eye clearly.