When you come to Optegra for your first visit you will meet with one of our team of healthcare technicians and a qualified optometrist who specialises in patient assessment for a vision correction procedure.
Our optometrists have had additional training in vision correction over and above their professional qualifications and work very closely with our consultant ophthalmologists (eye surgeons) and nurses.
As well as asking you to tell us about your eyesight and general health we will want to hear about your lifestyle and interests. We will listen to your reasons for seeking vision correction and what you hope the outcome will be. This will help us to decide with you the most appropriate treatment for you as an individual.
To help us decide whether you are a suitable candidate for surgery we will undertake a series of detailed eye measurements. These will typically include:
Corneal topography
The topographer takes multiple images of the clear cornea at the front of the eye and can capture more than 8000 points on the cornea to build a detailed map of the front and back surfaces as well as a cross-section view of the iris and lens.
Corneal topography is an essential technique used in suitability assessment for laser vision correction. It will show up any abnormal areas and tell us the thickness of the cornea.
Accurate assessment of shape and thickness means we can decide what treatment would be most suitable (such as SMILE or LASEK for thinner corneas).
Biometry
This means we take a series of readings from the eye that show us the curve on the cornea, the thickness of your natural lens and the length of your eye from front to back.
If you have refractive lens exchange, we use these to calculate the power of the artificial lens we need to use to correct your eyesight.
OCT
The OCT provides detailed scans of the retina and macula at the back of the eye and shows us a cross-section view so we can review the health of your eyes. We can check for any conditions such as age-related macular degeneration that may have a bearing on which treatment is most suitable for you.
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Endothelial cell count
This is a rapid measurement of the number of cells on the corneall endothelium (the back surface of the cornea). This helps us decide if you are suitable for ICL (implantable contact lens) treatment.
All of these measurements are contact free and will just feel like you are having a photograph taken.
You will also have your vision, refractive error (e.g. short or long sight) and eye pressure measured.
We will check for dry eyes and you may need eye drops instilled to make your pupils larger so that we can more easily look inside the eye.
Once you have had this comprehensive examination our optometrist will talk to you about the best way we can correct your eyesight and reduce your dependence on glasses or contact lenses.
If you are fortunate enough to be a suitable candidate and decide to proceed we will offer you an appointment to meet and talk with the Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon who will be treating you. Where possible we will try to do this on the same day.
At Optegra we offer this thorough consultation for free – so it is an ideal opportunity to not only check the health of your eyes as well as finding out more about the most suitable vision correction for you personally and have all your questions answered by leading eye health experts.
