Optical Coherence Tomography…
Ultra-Modern Eyecare

Principal Optometrist Mrs Hassan is among the first specialists in West Yorkshire to utilize the innovative, exciting technology of OCT.

“Mrs. Smith, your retina biopsy is complete. After examining a slice of your inner eye under a high-powered microscope, we are able to examine your eye & general health like never before…and we never even touched your eye!”

Does this statement sound space-aged? Welcome to the new world of high-tech medicine, where breakthroughs in ophthalmic imaging make the retina’s inner workings transparent to a degree unimaginable even a year ago.

It’s called Optical Coherence Tomography, “OCT” for short. OCT is a new, non-invasive technology used for imaging the retina, the multi-layered sensory tissue lining the back of the eye. OCT, the first instrument to allow us to see cross-sectional images of the retina, is revolutionizing the early detection and treatment of eye conditions such as macular holes, age related macular degeneration, pre-retinal membranes, macular swelling and even nerve damage that you get in glaucoma.

Similar to CT scans of internal organs, OCT uses the optical backscattering of light to rapidly scan the eye and describe a pixel representation of the anatomic layers within the retina. Each of these ten important layers can be differentiated and their thickness can be measured. Mrs Hassan, knowing the normal thickness of a healthy retinal layer, can then distinguish a multitude of retinal diseases and conditions.

In 2007, OCT was named one of the top 10 medical innovations expected to improve healthcare.

As Mrs Hassan has close links with Clayton hospital, she can email consultants OCT scans and reports straight away for a faster, efficient referral. For certain conditions, such as age-related macular degeneration and cystoid macular oedema, the 45 second OCT procedure is able to reduce or eliminate the need for fluorescein angiography for some patients.

Having the most modern equipment available reflects Mrs Hassan’s enormous efforts to obtain her objective of delivering highly efficient, ultra-modern eye health examinations.

I often see patients who have put off coming for their annual or bi-annual eye examination as they have not noticed a change in their vision, or are concerned about the cost of new glasses. We forget how a thorough eye examination at Pollards can potentially detect sight threatening eye conditions, and sometimes life threatening conditions. So today, I would like to draw your attention to an eye condition called Glaucoma.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, yet the majority of patients with glaucoma are unaware that they have the disease. It has been predicted that with our ageing population, the number of people in England and Wales suffering from glaucoma will increase by at least a third over the next two decades.

A case study – Pollards Optical Clinic, Wakefield

One of my patients lost the vision in his right eye due to age related macula degeneration, so he was reliant on his left eye for driving and daily tasks. He had a family history of glaucoma, so he was always montiored for this whenever he came to the practice. I had examined him a year ago, and at that time, there were no signs of glaucoma and his vision was very good. I decided to see him again in 1 years’ time, which is the NHS guidelines for patients with a family history of glaucoma. Unfortunetly, when I saw him yesterday, he had had what he described as a ‘frightening experience’ where he had hit a parked car as he didn’t see it on his left side. On examination, I found a significant part of his visual field in his only good eye was damaged. I have referred him to Clayton hospital for treatment, and we are hoping that some of his field of vision will come back. If it doesn’t, he will not be able to drive and will therefore loose his independance.

This made me realise, yet again, that early detection of glaucoma is vital. If I had seen this gentleman 6 months ago, I would have been able to refer him for treatment sooner and the damage would have been less severe. It made me think about Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), and how it will allow me to detect these cases so much sooner than with our traditional methods of examining the eye. According to recent research, 30% of nerve fibres have to be dead before our traditional methods can detect glaucoma. Yes, that’s THIRTY PERCENT! So before any Optometrist will refer you for glaucoma treatment, 30% of your nerve fibres will already be damaged. With treatment sometimes these improve, but most of the time they don’t.

So next time you come to Pollards, ask about OCT – it could save your sight.

Q. Hassan

Varifocal Contact Lenses

WHAT IS PRESBYOPIA?

This is a naturally occurring condition which begins to affect most people in their 40′s. It’s when you experience trouble when looking at things close up, small print, needlework etc.

The solution is a pair of reading glasses,but remember they are only focussed for close up, so your distance vision will be blurred. This is why people look over their glasses or end up taking them on and off a lot. If you already wear distance glasses this means carrying two pairs with you all the time and chopping and changing between them – what a faff!

Varifocal spectacles are a brilliant solution as they correct your vision for all distances, but what about the times when you don’t want to wear glasses at all? Well, read on!

MONOVISION

This is when you wear a contact lens in one eye to correct distance vision and in the other eye, one to correct near vision. Your brain does make sense of it! It works really well for a lot of people. A more advanced way of monovision is to have a multifocal contact lens in one eye and a single vision for distance in the other. This means that both eyes can see distance, but only one eye is used to see nearby objects. If you’ve never tried contact lenses, you’ll be surprised how easy they are to take in and out and how comfortable they are to wear.

If you’d like to trial monovision contact lenses, give us call on 01924 373697 to book your appointment.