Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Advantages Of Using An Indirect Ophthalmoscope

By Teri Farley


Ophthalmoscopy is examination of the inner part of the eye with the help of an instrument known as an ophthalmoscope. The procedure falls into two categories, direct as well as indirect ophthalmoscopy. In direct ophthalmoscopy, the eye's image is produced as an upright image that is up to fifteen times the original size. The latter inverts the image not beyond five times the sizes and the instrument used is an indirect ophthalmoscope.

There are different features of instruments used that determine which of the two procedures is adopted. For this reason, each type of examination uses its appropriate funduscope. The direct funduscope is tiny, almost the size of a hand-held torch, with potent lenses offering enlargement.

This type is commonly used for routine examinations. The examination of the inner part of the eye using ophthalmoscope process has a head band that holds a light together with a small handheld lens. The design provides a wider view of the inner part of the eye.

Utilizing an indirect funduscope has distinct advantages over its equivalent. It offers a broad perspective that renders a detailed view of the area around the eyes. This clear representation is achievable should the lens be covered by cataracts. The breadth of perspective increases by thirty degrees when facilitated by the potency of condensing lenses. By enabling a peripheral view of the retina, this approach is better, because it facilitates the retinopathy assessment process.

An additional feature is enhanced clarity of the retinal opacities, improved by clearer lighting that enables visualization through any dense cloudy obscurity. The augmented perception forms when channels of the incident and the reflected lights become separated, which does not happen in the case of the direct method. Oblique illumination is boosted by augmenting the pigmented lens size. In addition, the funduscope can be either monocular or binocular and is used during peripheral viewing of the retina.

The stereoscopic images that result from this equipment are of high quality and illuminated well. The equipment itself is very portable and the doctor or examiner only needs to hold the lens at proximity of length of arm close to the eye of the patient. The advantage this gives is that the patient will not be intimidated at all however apprehensive they may be.

The wider working area between patient and doctor allows for underpowered lenses that enable a larger perspective, whereas the direct method requires that the doctor and client co-operate. The binocular method minimizes such a requirement. Of value is that this process can be adopted to see the retina to its full extremity, thereby allowing for an holistic assessment of the eye by the examiner, at which point underlying or obscure problems may come to light.

There are a few limitations though of using the indirect ophthalmoscope. It presents images in inverted vertical and horizontal formats that can be quite complicated and the level of magnification can also be lower. You will need to have a lot of patience so as to get a better view of image using this instrument. Nevertheless, the benefits of using this binocular type of ophthalmoscope outweigh these few limitations and so you can consider opting for it in your practice.




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