The Eye Practice

Optometrists are the primary eye care providers.  They should be the first place you go to if you have an eye or vision problem.  But which one to go to?

There is a saying that goes like this:

"You can be the best carpenter in the world but if you have a blunt chisel you will not make a great bookcase".

The same applies for delivering great eye care.  Using high end technology allows a great optometrist to deliver great eye care.

There is equipment that can be considered basic and then there is advanced equipment that allows the optometrist to make subtle observations or follow eye health over time and detect subtle change that can represent the beginning of eye disease.

Basic equipment includes:

• Refractor Head - this instrument measures extend of vision blur and is responsible for obtaining your spectacle prescription.
• Biomicroscope - magnifies the front of the eye up to 45 times.  It is responsible for diagnosing what type of conjunctivitis might be affecting an eye or detecting cataracts.  It can also be used with sophisticated lenses to observed the back of the eye called the retina.

At The Eye Practice we have upgraded these two very important pieces of equipment, which is not common to find at other optometrical practices.  Our refractor head is similar to the one in this picture. It is fully automated.

Having a fully automated refractor head means that the eye testing procedure is far easier on the patient.

The old spectacle prescription can be transferred into the instrument at a press of a button.  Once the testing process is complete it is possible to compare the vision of the old prescription to the new prescription instantly.

Subtle prescription changes can be judged by the patient.  It involves the patient in the decision making process.

Once the final prescription is measured it can then be transferred accurately into the patient's computerised record without the optometrist having to type anything in.  Apart from being much quicker it is also does not lend itself to the optometrist accidentally copying the prescription down incorrectly into the patient record.  If this occurs it is likely that the glasses will be made incorrectly and then need to be re-manufactured.

At The Eye Practice our Biomicroscope is hooked up to a digital camera, which allows us to photograph anything we see that is clinically significant.  The old saying: "A picture says a thousand words" is very true when it comes to documenting observations.  It is very difficult to describe in words what we are seeing, whereas if it is photographed we will know exactly what we are comparing from visit to visit.

Even basic instrumentation can be upgraded to use the latest in computerised technology, but it does not end there.  Eye testing has come forward in leaps and bounds with all sorts of instruments available to upgrade the quality of the eye test.

Instruments such as the Stratus OCT, Cirrus OCT, Visante OCT, Matrix Visual Field Analyser, Medmont Corneal Topographer, Rodenstock Impressionist are just some of the unique instruments that are not available in most eye care facilities that are available at The Eye Practice.

In future posts we will discuss each of these instruments in detail and why we believe they add value in giving our patients peace of mind about their eyes.

The human eye is an organ that is truly a combination of, a work of art and scientific genius that most people find intriguing. Human beings have duplicated this organ and its principles to make some practical items such as the camera. 

The human eye is incredibly important. Approximately 70% of what we perceive of the world around us comes from our eyes.

Its therefore important to have regular checkups by optometrists for the eyes so that if they require medical treatment or correctional devices such as contact lenses, then one can get them promptly, before any harm is done. 

               

There are many eye conditions that can affect the human eye over the course of time. Some are as result of carelessness while others are due to age related factors. Other factors such as eye infections are completely unavoidable and hence one can hardly be able to prevent them.

In order to get the best out of the eyes one needs to have them regularly checked in order to be sure that all is well. At the same time corrective items for the eyes such as eye glasses need to be used only when prescribed by a qualified eye care professional. This will protect the wearer from causing harm to their eyes through use of improper eye aids.

More importantly the eyes can be screened for eye-sight threatening diseases like Macular Degeneration, Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy and Cataracts. All of these eye diseases do not exhibit symptoms until very late in the process.

Most optometrists recommend that everyone should attend regular eye examinations; however people with eye problems need to have their eyes examined at least once in a year. This is to preempt any problem that might occur or was in the process of happening that is likely to adversely affect the eyes.

Regular Eye exams for people with known problems will take care of minor issues that might have deteriorated with time to cause greater complications.

Eye problems have become quite common today; this is due to the many issues and pollutants that the modern human is exposed to.

Eye strain is one of the major factors that is known today to contribute a lot to many eye complications. Mostly this is due either to ignorance about how to take care of the eyes or due to the modern pressures of life that have been driving the human race into a frenzy, as they seek to achieve higher and higher goals with excessive reading and computer work.

Another contributing factor to the challenges that are facing these vital organs that human beings rely on so much are the many pathogens that have multiplied and reinvented themselves with the overuse of antibiotics. Eye infections can range from simple irritations to sight threatening conditions that may lead to blindness if they are not addressed.

All these challenges mean that human beings must rise to the occasion and take care of their eyes in order to be sure that they maintain this great gift that is so precious yet so vulnerable to harm from so many areas.