Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month – optomap Making a Difference
| As we continue to recognize August as Children’s Eye Health and Safety month, it’s important to understand the importance of eye exams, and the utilization of the highest-level technology in pediatric screening. Optos ultra-widefield (UWF™) imaging technology is making great strides in diagnosing and treating eye problems in children and infants. Due to the cutting-edge modalities and ease-of-operation with an optomap® exam, signs of retinal disease can be found in the periphery, often before children and infants become symptomatic. Many vision problems begin at an early age, so it’s important for children to receive proper eye care. optomap was founded by Douglas Anderson after his then five-year-old son Leif went blind in one eye when a retinal detachment was detected too late. Although his son was having regular eye exams, routine exams were uncomfortable, especially for a child, which made it impossible for the doctor to conduct a complete exam and view the entire retina. He set out to create a way of non-invasively capturing as much of the retina as possible.in a single capture. Results from several published clinical studies suggest that optomap is an essential element to the screening and management of pediatric patients. While traditional fundus imaging is a multi-stage effort made more complicated by children and babies’ natural tendencies to become impatient during exams, an optomap images provides a view beyond the vortex vessels into the periphery in a single capture and without dilation, making the imaging process easier and faster. According to a study published, as the leading cause of blindness in in babies and children, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is gaining the most advantage with the implementation of UWF technology. ROP generally occurs in premature babies (born at 31 weeks or less) that have extremely low birth weights (2 3/4 pounds or less). With advances in medicine, more premature babies are being saved earlier in the gestation period. The ease of obtaining high definition images and the ability to compare and contrast the findings remotely proved to be beneficial in clinical trials. Optomap has been shown to capture up to 75% more abnormal pathology in pediatric patients unseen by traditional fundus imaging methods in ROP, uveitis, retinal vascular diseases as well as infection or trauma. For additional information as well as continued study results. For more information on Optos technology, we invite you to contact us. |