Hi, I'm Dr. Kovacs, an Optometrist at Wright Vision Care, LLC Prairie Lakes in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
Today, I'd like to talk about OPTOS or OPTO Map Imaging. So why would someone prefer to have OPTOS over dilation. The OPTOS is a machine that takes a mere flash to record the health of the back side of each eye. It's basically touch free so there are no eye drops going in the eyes. You get very close to the machine but nothing does touch you. The flash of this machine is a very comfortable flash.
Think of OPTOS as being the unique fingerprint of the back of your eye. So what we're looking for is we're looking at the health of your optic nerve, your macula, your blood vessels and your retina. With OPTOS we can get really far out into the periphery of the back of your eye just like we can with dilation. With dilation we can get a little bit more of a magnified view. OPTOS gives us a very broad view.
What are the advantages of OPTOS? It is a permanent part of your record. We can look at it in subsequent years so whether you come back in a year, five years, ten years, we can look back at your pictures and see, well has anything changed with the health of your eye.
Is there any reason why you can't take OPTOS? Cataracts and diabetes would prevent you from getting OPTOS. With cataracts, we need to dilate the pupil so we can take a look at the lens where cataracts form, with OPTOS we do not need to dilate.
OPTOS at our clinic here we can take every year. Whether you come back next year, 5 years, we can take a look with OPTOS instead of dilation.
We do however stop recommending OPTOS after the age of 60 to 65 where it becomes beneficial to dilate the eyes.
Another good reason to use OPTOS is so that we as practitioners can show you what the health of the back of your eye looks like. We can show you what the retina looks like, what the macula looks like. Is it healthy?
I think it's really neat for someone to see the back of their eye if they never have before.
So next time you come in for an eye exam, ask for OPTOS.
Learn more at www.wrightvisioncare.com
