Are the photos of my eyes the same at all opticians?
Your retina (located in the back of your eye) is the only place in the body where blood vessels can be seen directly. This means that it is vitally important in detecting early signs of eye disease such as macular degeneration and glaucoma. In addition signs of other diseases (eg. stroke, heart disease, hypertension and diabetes) can also be seen in the retina.
Early signs of these conditions can show on your retina long before you notice any changes to your vision or feel pain. While eye examinations generally include a look at the front of the eye to evaluate health and prescription changes, a thorough screening of the retina is critical to verify that your eye is healthy.
Retinal photography is a normal digital photo and is offered in many of the larger retail-type opticians. The area of the retina that it covers is quite limited– approx. 45 degrees, and depends more on pupil size, so to get a good imageeye drops may be needed to dilate the pupil. The flash it uses is very bright and it can only show the surface of the retina.
By contrast the optomap retinal scanning exam is fast (less than half a second), painless and comfortable. Nothing touches your eye at any time and it is suitable for the whole family. It carries out a retinal scan using a green and red laser, and takes a large panoramic image of the retina (typically about 180 degrees of the retina).
It is not dependent on pupil size to get a good image and it is very good at imaging the peripheral retina. Because it is a laser scan it can also see further into the layers of the retina. A short video helps demonstrate this.
Click here for more information about the types of eye examinations we can offer, or to speak to one of our eye experts, call us now on 020 8363 3578 or send us an email.
