diagnostic tool of the future, The

Optometric Management, Feb 2003 by Ossip, Gregg

instrumental strategies

Three instruments in one will save your practice money and space.

We're now well into 2003 and it's time to re-evaluate your pretest equipment. Has your autorefractor, for instance, seen better days? If so, evaluate your options. You could purchase a new autorefractor, an autorefractor/autokeratometer combination and a separate corneal topographer.

You know that you need to make an investment that will serve the needs of your patients for the next few years. Perhaps you've been involved in refractive surgery cases and have been reading about the future, which includes wavefront analysis. I recommend putting the Nidek OPD-Scan Wavefront Plus on your shortlist.

Save space, money and more

The Nidek OPD-Scan Wavefront Plus is an Optical Path Difference Scanning System ARK-10000 Refractive Power/Corneal Analyzer. It provides three instruments in one: An autorefractor/keratometer, a corneal topographer and a wavefront analyzer. So it provides a comprehensive solution for your diagnostic needs and it saves your practice valuable space - not to mention thousands of dollars compared to purchasing these capabilities separately.

With the OPD-Scan, Nidek has combined dynamic skiascopy technology and placido disk corneal topography to create unique refractive power maps that plot the aberrations of the entire optical system. Other features include:

* A wide range of measurement for both sphere and cylinder sphere (20 to 22 and cyl .25 to /- 12.0)

* Precise mapping of irregular astigmatism

* Fully automatic alignment

* Touch screen operation

* Glare-free topography measurements

* Autofogging capability

* Multiple pre-set map layouts for display and print

* Space-saving footprint.

The device brings diagnostic analysis to a new level by giving the refractive surgeon the information necessary to correct lower- and higher-order aberrations according to each patient's requirements. And your staff will have no problem learning to operate the device.

Principle of operation

The OPD-Scan uses the principle of skiascopic phase difference for refractive map measurement. The retina is scanned with an infrared light slit beam and the time difference of reflected light is captured by an array of rotating photo detectors over the entire 360 degree meridian of the fundus. The Dynamic Skiascopy system also generates auto-refraction data for the 2.5-mm, 3.0-mm and 5.0-mm zones.

The corneal topography function operates via placido disc technology. By combining these two functions in a single instrument, misalignment problems are minimized and data reliability is enhanced. Further, the OPD-Scan's multiple, simultaneous functions reduce examination time.

The OPD map displays total optical aberrations in dioptric powers. The map shows the total refractive power errors of the cornea, vitreous and lens to correct the eye to emmetropia. All data required to create these customized maps are obtained in a single sitting.

Measurements acquired from four ring zones are from 2 mm to 6 mm at 1-degree intervals to collect 1,440 data points. The display and printouts are easy to read.

These printouts will help you educate your patients and give them the best vision correction possible.

DR. OSSIP IS IN GROUP PRACTICE IN INDIANAPOLIS. HE HAS LECTURED EXTENSIVELY AND HAS WRITTEN NUMEROUS ARTICLES ON PRACTICE MANAGEMENT. YOU CAN REACH HIM BY E-MAIL AT GOSSIP2020@AOL.COM