The macula is widely agreed to be the most important part of the eye. This small area, only a few millimetres in diameter, in the centre of the retina is responsible for all the fine detail of vision that is achieved when we look straight at an object. It is this central vision that is responsible for almost all of the “visual tasks” that people perform in their lives such as reading, watching television, recognising faces and playing games.
There is more to analysing the health of the macular than just looking closely into the eye or taking a photograph. In our Norwest practice, the Vision Excellence optometrist has the capability of assessing the health of the macula through instruments made possible by the latest technology. Not only are we equipped with widefield retinal imaging that gives a detailed view of almost the entire retina but also with painless and non-invasive Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) scanning we are able to perform 3D scanning of the macula that allows us to analyse this incredibly important central part of the retina, the macula, section by section and layer by layer.
Our aim is to leave no stone unturned in knowing about the performance of your central vision so for this reason, Vision Excellence has invested in two other cutting edge technologies Preferential Hyperacuity Perimetry (PHP) and Macular Pigment Optical Densitometry (MPOD) to allow us to know as much as we possibly can about your macula. The first of these instruments is like an electronic Amsler Grid that not only detects distortion of the central vision but also quantifies any distortion so that we can monitor changes with time as well as assessing whether treatment of macular degeneration has been successful. The second measures the levels of macular pigment in the eyes which gives us an indication of your risk of developing macular degeneration, as well as allowing us to monitor the success of the dietary supplements recommended by the findings of the ground-breaking AREDS (Age Related Eye Disease Study) and AREDS 2 findings that have recently been released in the US.