The Retina is the inner lining at the back of your eye and visually the most sensitive tissue. Damage to the retina, especially the central retina would lead to visual impairment and in some cases blindness. When an eye care practitioner looks into your eye or takes a photograph, it is the retina that they are looking at.
The Spectralis 4D OCT Eye Scanner is often compared to a CAT scan of your eye. This new system allows us to take a very high-resolution detailed image of your retina and also helps us look below the surface at each layer of the retina to create a High-Definition map that provides us with information never seen before. This is very much different to retinal photos which is just a photo!
The OCT can even allow us to see fine details in the walls of your blood vessels and microscopic individual nerve fibres. This helps us to find the smallest sign of problems such as diabetic eye disease, vascular problems, neavi (moles), glaucoma, macular degeneration, swelling and retinal holes long before they may be visible on the retinal surface. A standard routine eye test or standard retinal photos will in most cases not be sufficient to pick up subtle pathological changes
The Spectralis 4D OCT scan not only helps us clinicians to detect eye conditions but can sometimes also show signs associated with brain tumours, high cholesterol or uncontrolled blood pressure thus saving further health problems in the future and may even help detect other cardiovascular diseases, issues not always related to the eye.
At Edgbaston Private Eye Clinic we recommend Spectralis 4D OCT scanning for all patients especially for all patients over the age of 40 as it not only acts as a very thorough assessment of your eye health but also provide an excellent baseline for future comparison to help diagnose any changes at the earliest signs.
4D Scan the eye is particularly advisable for anyone that has been diagnosed with cataracts, macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetes or who has a family history of any of these conditions. These scans allow more accurate monitoring of your condition.
It is a non-invasive technique and doesn’t use any harmful rays like x-rays or any sort of magnetic radiation.