Optical coherence tomography, or OCT scan for short, is a painless diagnostic test that provides detailed imaging of the eye’s internal structure, which isused to evaluate disorders of the macula or optic nerve. The images provided by optical coherence tomography are used to diagnose retinal conditions such as macularholes, macular edema, wet age-related macular degeneration, dry age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, central serous chorioretinopathy, and vitreomacular traction.
At the beginning of an OCT, the patient’s pupils will be dilated using eye drops. This makes it easier to examine the retina. Once dilated, the patient will be seated in front of the OCT machine with their head positioned for the scan. Scanning of the eye is completely painless and does not require any physical contact with the eye.
The images taken of the eye’s internal structure allows your ophthalmologist to detect and diagnose retinal conditions and diseases.
This diagnostic test takes only a few minutes to complete and is completely safe.
Information collected during the examination is recorded by Calgary Retina Consultants and saved in the patient’s records for future use. All patient records are strictly confidential.