3D OCT, Ocular Coherence Tomography (OCT) is an advanced eye scan for people of all ages.

SEEING BENEATH THE SURFACE IS ESSENTIAL TO THE HEALTH OF YOUR EYES

The Science

Ocular Coherence Tomography (OCT) is an advanced eye scan for people of all ages. Similar to ultrasound, OCT uses light rather than sound waves to illustrate the different layers which make up the back of your eye.

For a number of years we have been able to photograph the back of your eye making the record of your ocular health much more accurate. With the new 3D scan we still have the photograph but now we also have a three dimensional cross section of the back of your eye.

The scan is non-invasive, painless, simple and quick. The information it gives us is invaluable picking up the most subtle changes to your retina.

WHAT CAN THE SCAN CHECK FOR?

Glaucoma damages the optic nerve at the point where it leaves the eye. The danger with chronic glaucoma is that there is no pain and your eyesight will feel unchanged but your vision is being damaged. In many cases an OCT scan will be able to confirm the presence of this sight threatening disease before it could be detected in a regular optician’s sight test.

Age-related macular degeneration causes the gradual breakdown of the central area of the retina. This is the most common cause of vision loss in the over fifties. OCT can not only identify this condition and its type (there are two, wet or dry) it can also monitor progression. In some cases monitoring the eye’s improvement with treatment.

Diabetes is a major cause of visual impairment among adults. Here in the UK more the two million have been identified as having diabetes. OCT enables early detection which greatly improves the success rate of treatment.

Macular holes are small holes in the retina which effect the area of the eye responsible for sharp, detailed central vision as you can imagine damage to this area can result in loss of vision.

Vitreous detachments are when the jelly inside our eyeball moves away from the back of our eye towards the centre, in some cases it does not detach and pulls against the retinal surface and this could result in a hole. An OCT would easily identify this problem but again your eyesight can seem unchanged even though damage to the back of your eye is occurring.