OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography)

OCT is a recently developed medical imaging technique consisting of a real CT scan of the eye that enables to check not only the condition of the retina and the optic nerve, but also of the cornea and the anterior chamber of the eye, with a very high detail of just a few thousandths of a millimetre, thereby allowing precise and absolutely non-invasive diagnoses, sometimes without even the need to dilate the pupil . All of us should undergo at least once a test of this type.

Its advantages rely on the use of a laser light whose speed is a million times higher than that of the sound and a resolution power of approximately 10 microns.

The different retinal layers produce reflected light signals that are compared with those obtained in normal eyes and represented in real time by means of a colour scale.

It is widely used in the study of common retinal diseases, such as macular involvements and diseases of the optic nerve, for whose assessment it has become an absolute standard. The scans obtained enable early detection of lesions at their earliest stages, and are therefore essential to undertake the most appropriate therapeutic, pharmacological and/or surgical strategies, and finally allow monitoring the evolution and healing process.

This test is non-invasive; it doesn’t imply any contact with the ocular surface; in some cases, the pupil dilation becomes necessary.

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