It is almost time for the BC Doctors of Optometry 2015 Annual Conference and OPTOFAIR. Being held at the Westin Bayshore Hotel from 28 February through 2 March 2015.  The event will feature education and networking opportunities for doctors of optometry, optometric assistants, and opticians. Optos will be in attendance with our ultra-widefield (UWF™) retinal imaging technology.

The BC Doctors of Optometry 2015 Annual Conference includes a program for doctors of optometry which provides 28 courses and up to 36 hours of CE credits upon completion. Additionally, 28 hours of COPE credits is included. For optometric assistants and opticians, there are 19 courses and up to 28 hours of CE credits.

Optos would like to encourage you to visit with us during the OPTOFAIR to learn more about our UWF retinal imaging technology and how it can help your practice thrive. Our UWF technology produces a high resolution 200 degree image of the retina in a single capture, and improves patient comfort since dilation is not necessarily required.

The ability to see this far into the periphery with our optomap® technology provides the opportunity to detect potential problems much earlier than exams with traditional equipment can. You …

The third annual Canadian Retina Society Meeting is taking place from 26 February  through 1 March 2015 at the beautiful mountain resort of Whistler, British Columbia. The Canadian Retina Society and the Canadian Ophthalmology Society have teamed up to create a premiere learning experience for Canadian retina specialists, and Optos is proud to be featured at the event.

Optos is proud to be part of this exciting learning opportunity. Our ultra-widefield retinal imaging technology has been clinically proven to enable earlier diagnosis and treatment of retinal diseases. Because optomap® delivers a 200 degree view of the retina in a single scan, the high resolution images enable pathologies in the periphery to be documented and analyzed which can provide better treatment options and better patient outcomes. Be sure to stop by to find out what is new with Optos and optomap.

The Optos team constantly strives to improve upon our retinal imaging technology. In our effort to be THE retina company, we realize our technology is not only saving vision, it is also saving lives.

Denise Kniefel, OD knows the value of the optomap® exam because she has been a customer of Optos since 2004. No stranger to the technology, Dr. Kniefel started imaging her retina as a matter of course. In 2008 at a tradeshow, she stopped in to talk to the representatives from the company. Optos had recently unveiled new technology that allowed for even better optomap imaging than in the past. Dr. Kniefel sat down and had her retinal image captured. A nevus was detected that she hadn’t previously seen.

The image prompted Dr. Kniefel to see her ophthalmologist and have a fluorescein angiography and an OCT exam done. She did indeed have a nevus, which is essentially a freckle in the eye, and needs to be routinely monitored. Just like a freckle on your skin, it can change and become cancerous. Her doctor told her if the nevus did change into cancerous melanoma of eye, she would notice changes to her vision.

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The ability to capture and document retinal detachment can prove indispensable when treating your patients. Not only can it help you determine the underlying cause of the detachment, it can prove a valuable teaching tool for your patients so they understand what is wrong and how their participation in their treatment will provide a better outcome.

To get a better understanding of this ailment and communicating properly to your patient, be sure to read through the case study from Optos below:

History A 60 year-old male visited the Retina Institute of Hawaii complaining of poor central vision in the right eye. He began to notice vision loss inferiorly one week prior, which progressed to central vision loss two days prior to exam. The patient was CF with eccentric viewing.

Examination Upon a dilated fundus examination, there was a macula-off superior Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment with a superotemporal horse-shoe tear. optomap plus images were captured to document the retinal detachment and horseshoe tear and assist in explaining the treatment plan to the patient. A pneumatic retinopexy was immediately performed which reattached the macula.

The patient laid in the office in a face-down position for 30 minutes and …

February is national age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and low vision awareness month. Since AMD is the leading cause of vision loss in people over the age of 50, it is imperative to provide education and awareness about the disease to try to protect people’s vision. With our aging population, preventing unnecessary vision loss is critical.

One of the most problematic facts in regards to AMD is that before most people realize they have a problem with their vision, substantial permanent damage has already occurred. To prevent such a situation from occurring, early detection of AMD is essential to prevent vision loss.

Maintaining a regular comprehensive eye exam schedule is one of the first walls you can erect as a safeguard from AMD. Unfortunately, though, many people do not think about their eyes needing to be thoroughly checked until there is a problem, which is why regular eye exams are a necessity to get across to patients to limit the number of cases of new blindness.

Curious about how it feels to develop AMD? Located at the back of the retina, the macula is responsible for sharp, central vision. Keeping one eye closed, form a fist in front of …

Not only is January the beginning of a new year, it is the month to raise awareness about the most common cause of preventable blindness. Glaucoma is an eye disease that if it diagnosed in its earliest stages, the outcomes for patients are very positive. Unfortunately, since many people are not aware of how common this disease is and that it can destroy up to 40 percent of a patient’s vision before they notice it, not enough people are screened regularly for the disease through comprehensive eye exams. Along with many other organizations, Optos would like to ask you to help increase awareness and encourage people to get their eyes examined regularly and include optomap^® as part of your comprehensive eye exam.

Glaucoma Facts:

— There are 2.7 million Americans 40 and older suffering from this eye disease. The National Eye Institute expects this figure to rise by 58 percent, to 4.2 million by the year 2030. — Experts estimate that 50 percent of people are unaware they have the disease which means there may be a blindness epidemic due to our aging population. — More than 120,000 people in the US are blind due …

Living with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes can lead to many other health issues, especially if your blood sugar is not kept in a healthy range. What many diabetics do not take seriously enough is the effect it can have on your vision. One of the leading causes of blindness for Americans with diabetes is diabetic retinopathy. Unfortunately, it is also the most common eye disease associated with diabetes. Early eye disease detection is critical if you are diabetic and wish to maintain your eyesight.

Understanding Diabetic Retinopathy At the back of your eye is the retina, which senses light and is vital for healthy vision. The retina has many very small blood vessels which can be damaged easier than most of your other blood vessels. Diabetic retinopathy occurs when these blood vessels undergo changes as a result of diabetes.

The Silent Vision Thief Diabetic retinopathy is often called a “silent thief” because it is rare for a patient to notice changes in their vision until after the disease has progressed significantly enough to cause permanent damage. Left untreated, this eye disease goes through stages of progression that rob the retina of nourishment, eventually …

In several ocular diseases, the peripheral retina is the site of pathology. From conditions such as diabetic retinopathy to familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), to retinal tears and detachments, the peripheral retina has been an area of interest for many eye care professionals throughout the ages.

Searching for a better means of treating conditions of the peripheral retina has been a challenge for researchers for well over a century, and during that time, advancements in imaging technology have allowed for easier evaluation by use of photography.

Listed below is an abbreviated history from the Review of Ophthalmology of how imaging the peripheral retina has evolved into the ultra-widefield imaging of today:

— 1851- The first ophthalmoscope was invented by Hermann Von Hemholtz.

— 1926- The first fundus camera that could provide a 20 degree view of the retina is invented, allowing ocular fundus structure documentation. Many years later, a camera with the capability of a 30 degree view would be the new standard. Although this allowed a view of the posterior pole and the optic nerve, periphery viewing was very limited.

— In time, doctors were able to use a regular fundus camera …

A 49 year-old Caucasian male presented a recent decrease in vision. For the past 12 years, he had a history of chronic central serous retinopathy and his vision had always recovered after each recurrence. At this visit, his visual acuity was 20/80 in the right eye and 20/40 in the left eye. The patient had no other systemic diagnosis.

Examination

optomap® af images were obtained and showed multifocal areas of hyper- and hypofluorescence reaching into the mid-periphery. The ‘gutter-like’ appearances of the broad hyperfluorescent areas are characteristic of chronic central serous retinopathy. Additionally, FD-OCT images were acquired and showed massive fibrinous exudates in the subretinal space. The patient underwent a fluorescein angiogram after optomap af images were acquired, which confirmed the diagnosis of CSR.

Discussion

Multimodal imaging was required to determine the diagnosis of CSR. The mottled appearance of the focal lesions and the broad hyperfluorescent streaks on the optomap af images are indicative of chronic central serous retinopathy as well as the “smoke-stack” leakage in the late fluorescein angiogram images. The benefit of the widefield optomap images is it can help identify patterns which are not discernible when focusing on a …

A 15 year-old African American female with a history of bilateral threshold retinopathy of prematurity was seen for a routine annual visit. As an infant, she was treated with scatter laser photocoagulation two months after her birth. At this visit, she was asymptomatic with a visual acuity of 20/25 in the right eye and 20/15 in the left eye.

Examination

optomap^® color images were obtained and showed a reddish orange, slightly elevated lesion at 2 o’clock in the far periphery of the right eye, anterior to the equator. Images also confirmed areas of previous laser treatment in the temporal periphery. optomap fluorescein angiogram images were obtained and showed the lesion to be hyperfluorescent and that the lesion had feeding and draining retinal vessels. The left eye did not have similar lesions, but did have evidence of previous laser treatment in the temporal periphery.

Discussion

optomap color and fluorescein angiography were used to document the appearance and investigate the characteristics of the peripheral lesion. The lesion was determined to be reactive angiomatous proliferation – a rare vascular proliferation which has been reported to occur in various chronic retinal diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa …