Comments and Conclusions
• Perhaps dentists have it right: X-rays should be utilized as a routine procedure to reveal abnormalities missed by direct observation.
• One could make an argument for the “X-rays” of eye care: Optomap®, fundus photography and now SD OCT. These tools may become a way to routinely screen for and detect disorders often missed by direct observation.
• Such procedures can be obtained by technicians, saving the doctor valuable time that can be used for decision-making and for direct patient interaction and education.
• SD OCT, as exemplified here by the iVue iWellnessExam, can obtain information about the retina and optic nerve simultaneously. Sometimes these findings are invisible to direct observation with ophthalmoscopy.
• Some patients have both a retinopathy and an optic neuropathy, as highlighted by Cases 1 and 5, and both can be detected simultaneously in less than a minute without pupillary dilation.
• When screening reveals a healthy retina and optic nerve, as in Case 4, the data is equally useful at ruling out the source of vision loss.
• Other novel procedures, such as fundus autofluorescence (FAF), can also detect abnormalities invisible to ophthalmoscopy. FAF will be highlighted in an upcoming Retina Revealed- stay tuned!