Most people come for an eye test because they have noticed that something isn’t quite right with their vision. Maybe their vision is blurry in the distance and seeing street signs is getting difficult. Or maybe they are finding that reading the fine print on their phone is getting harder and they are having to stretch their arms to try and hold it further away.
Our optometrists are able to check your vision and help with both of those things! BUT many people don’t realise that an eye test goes beyond just helping you see clearly. We also check the health of your eyes by taking a close look at their external and internal structures.
An important part of this assessment is using ocular imaging to capture a picture of what the back wall (the retina) of your eye looks like. Just like a fingerprint, everyone’s retinal appearance is unique to them, so having a photo allows us to see exactly what your individual retina looks like – including the macula, the optic nerve and the blood vessels. Some people even have a freckle or birthmark on their retina!
The retinal photo is important because it acts as an accurate baseline record for future assessments so that subtle differences can be picked up over the years. This allows for early detection of conditions such as macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and many more – which you often won’t realise you have until it is too late and vision is lost.
For an even more in-depth view, we also are able to perform optical coherence tomography (OCT). This goes beyond just the surface view, and acts like an ultrasound to give an image of all the layers of the macula and optic nerve. This means we can measure the thickness of the retina to the precision of a micrometer! We can also see the layers and contour of the macula, as well as monitor how the thickness of the nerve fibres compares to other people your age, further improving our abilities to detect eye disease early.
Unlike many optometry practices, here at Eyes@Narangba we offer ocular imaging routinely, because we want to provide the absolute best vision AND eye health care that you can find anywhere!