We have an exciting piece of technology, it is called an Optical Coherence Tomographer (OCT).  It is a great tool for detecting and managing eye diseases, in addition to checking your overall health.

It takes a very detailed cross-section image of the eye as well as a retinal photo.  We look at these images side-by-side which allows us to pinpoint exactly where within the retina a problem may lie. This allows for a quick diagnosis of many retinal diseases. We can also detect early signs of diabetes and high blood pressure using these images.

The OCT provides an excellent image for detecting fine details that would otherwise be difficult to see by looking into the eye.  Each layer within the retina has a different shade of grey which allows us to pinpoint exactly where a problem has happened. The OCT is an excellent tool to detect and monitor problems with the macula like ARMD and diabetic maculopathy, even before it is visible on other tests. 

The OCT can also measure how thick specific layers of the retina are which helps in the detection and monitoring of glaucoma.

Many patients ask if an OCT works similar to an X-Ray, and you can rest assured,  it does not.  There is no radiation involved in an OCT, which actually works in a similar way to an ultrasound. But instead of using sound to get the image it uses light. It scans the eye and assesses the light reflecting off the different tissues within the eye to create dark and light bands which represent layers within the retina, cornea, and iris.