“Regular eye exams are crucial for people of all ages in order to maintain good vision and detect eye disease and damage early in order to prevent unnecessary vision loss,” said Dr. Leah Gibson. “Many people are unable to get the advanced eye care they need and deserve due to their financial situation. Our goal at Heartland Optical is to help all of our patients experience the best vision care by providing the optomap as part of our regular, comprehensive vision exam.”
We are one of the few practices in the Lincoln area using the optomap as a regular part of a comprehensive eye exam, without charging the patient an additional fee. Why do we feel this type of exam is important for everyone to receive on a regular basis regardless of age? It’s simple. The optomap captures an image of virtually the entire retina; no other tool can capture this wide range view in a single image. Better yet, many times it takes the place of pupil dilation. Since its introduction, millions of exams have been conducted worldwide, assisting in the diagnosis of serious eye conditions – such as diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachments and macular degeneration that would have otherwise gone undetected.
The optomap non-invasively captures an instantaneous, ultra-widefield digital image of the retina in a quarter of second, revealing important information for the evaluation of systemic and ocular health. It is performed quickly and easily which enables us to spend more time diagnosing and educating rather than gathering information. An optomap image provides us with a tool to help discover retinal disease and assist in the diagnosis of major health problems including high blood pressure, cancer and more.
Early detection of any retinal abnormality may lead to earlier and safer treatments and, in many cases, prevent vision loss. An optomap should be performed annually regardless of symptoms, thereby allowing our doctors to observe subtle changes occurring as each patient ages.
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