Do you see what I see?

Our eyes are incredible organs that work long, hard hours to allow us to capture the beauty of the world around us. If we think of our eyes like cameras, our retina is like the film (or digital sensor if you’ve never used a film camera!). The retina contains ~100 million light sensitive cells (rods and cones) that capture light and, through complex layers of cells and connections, sends that signal to our brain to create the images we see. 

Every part of the retina corresponds to a specific area in our vision. The macula is responsible for central vision and the peripheral retina for our side vision. When everything is healthy and working well, we see our world as normal. This all seems so natural that we often take our eyesight for granted. Unfortunately, there is a lot that can go wrong.

So, why do we do retinal scans? We use our scanning technology to check that these complex layers of tissue are healthy. The scans provide important eye health information that we can’t get in any other way. This helps us to ensure the retina can continue to do its job and provide you with normal, natural vision. If we don’t look, we don’t know – it’s that simple.

A common misconception is “my vision seems fine, so my retinas must be fine”. The truth is, early retinal holes, tears and lesions often don’t have symptoms, but if detected and treated promptly vision can be saved. It is very hard to detect subtle changes in your peripheral vision, so things can be changing and go unnoticed. It’s at these early stages that treatment is most effective.

Retinal scans are also a great addition to a general health check. Having a look at the blood vessels inside the eyes not only ensures the retinas are getting the nutrients and oxygen they need, but also tells us a lot about what the blood vessels in the rest of your body are doing. The eye is the only place in the body that we can view uncovered blood vessels! Everywhere else they are under the skin. Retinal scanning technology can detect changes in vasculature from high blood pressure and diabetes. Appropriate management can then be started with your GP to ensure your whole body is as healthy as possible.

Scanning for changes in the eyes over time is a very helpful tool in disease prevention and detection. Having the ability to document and compare scans at every visit is an invaluable tool to better manage your eye health throughout your life. It is vitally important that we take good care of our eyes, so they can keep up with our daily demands for the long-haul.