World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. World Sight Day 2016 takes place October 13. This year’s theme and call to action is “Stronger Together,” encouraging a focus on all stakeholders who are important for successful delivery of eyecare – Optos being one of those stakeholders.
Optos plc has the vision to be The Retina Company and is recognized as a leading provider of devices to eyecare professionals for improved patient care. Optos was founded and incorporated in 1992 by Douglas Anderson after his then five-year-old son went blind in one eye because a retinal detachment was detected too late. Although his son was having routine eye exams, the exams were uncomfortable, and difficult for a child to sit still through, which made it impossible for his eye doctor to conduct a complete exam and view the entire retina. Anderson’s mission was to commercialize a patient-friendly, easy to use and comfortable retinal imaging product that encompassed a digital widefield image of the retina in a single capture. Fast forward to 1999: the P200 received both 510k clearance from the FDA and the EU CE marking. Optos devices have been sold worldwide since 2000.
The ultra-widefield (UWF™) imaging technology from Optos enables the capture of a 200-degree view of the retina, giving ocular health practitioners images and diagnostic information that can’t be provided by conventional imaging methods. While one of the most common applications for UWF technology may be in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetic retinopathy (DR), optomap® imaging is also being used for characterizing pediatric retinal disease; age-related macular degeneration (AMD); retinal breaks and tears; uveitis, ocular oncology; central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR); retinal vein occlusion (RVO); and a growing list of other eye diseases and conditions.
What is an optomap image?
An Optos scanning laser technology, that captures more than 80% of your retina. To put this in context, traditional imaging methods typically show only 15% of your retina at one time.
Getting an optomap image is fast, painless and non-invasive – safe for adults and children alike. To have the exam, you simply look through the Optos device one eye at a time (much like looking through a keyhole) until you see a comfortable flash of light letting you know the image of your retina was taken. The capture takes less than a second and images are available immediately for your review. The patients that have shared their stories with us are all thankful that their eyecare professional had optomap technology in order to detect and treat their (in some cases life-saving) eye-related and systemic health issues. Click the image below to find out more about these patients and their outcomes.
Optos’ Patient Stories
Optos is committed to utilizing the latest technology to manufacture new products and software that optomap help eyecare professionals around the world save sight and lives. Furthermore, Optos continues to strengthen its clinical evidence and expand its disease indications to demonstrate the importance of imaging the entire retina.
This World Sight Day, do yourself a favor and protect your eye health by scheduling an optomap exam. To find a provider in your area, visit our website.