Our favourite examination equipment

Our comprehensive eye care examination involves a thorough examination of the front of your eye (using our WAM 800) and retinal imaging of the back of the eye using the Daytona plus Optomap from Optos. The Optomap is Jan and Jay's favourite piece of eye examination equipment and is one of the most capable (and expensive!) eye cameras available. It’s British designed and made and a world beating product. This is because it does something really difficult which is not possible with any other viewing system (like a standard camera or slit lamp). The Optomap photographs 80% of the retina even for patients with small pupils and cataracts. This compares with the 15% coverage achievable with an ordinary camera and only then if the patient has a large pupil and clear media. The Optomap makes it easy, quick and doesn’t need dilation drugs to get a good image. Dilation helps but it stings, and can make driving dangerous because glare is increased so unsurprisingly people would book a dilation and then not turn up. The Optomap makes it easy, quick and painless to keep a check on your eye health. Because the pictures are so comprehensive and detailed we often find things missed at others exams.

Below is a picture of torpedo maculopathy, a harmless variant on normal completely missed by another optometrist even though it’s large and close to the macular.

It’s very difficult to look in childrens eyes but even children as young as 3 years can cooperate enough to get decent pictures. The child’s mum was horrified when she saw the picture as she realised the previous exam either hadn’t been thorough or this 'thing' had appeared in the last year. Children should have a yearly Optomap with their eye exam and we have a reduced price for children and benefits claimants.

The picture above looks really scary but again is a harmless variant on normal. It’s a congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (CHRPE), formed when the baby is being made and again hard to see with ordinary imaging systems.

Why would you want to know that you’ve got something like a CHRPE? There are several reasons, one being that some are large enough to cause visual field defects and another being suddenly finding out you’ve got a large scary looking thing in your eye can be really unnerving. It’s best to find out early and have a picture on your phone so when a really diligent optometrist or doctor says "did you know about ‘X’" you can pull out your phone picture.

You can book a comprehensive eye examination (including Optomap picture) online here. Alternatively, you can call to book an appointment on 0117 9735929 or email juulpayne.reception@gmail.com.