The average person might not realize just how crucial ophthalmology can be in the healthcare sector and the various technological breakthroughs that make treating patients with vision problems easier. Considering how essential our eyes can be to daily life, it’s only natural that ophthalmology takes an active approach to treatment, ensuring strides are made to treating something as precious as our eyes.
Such technological breakthroughs are a joint effort, utilizing data from previous treatments to help develop better means of treatment for patients. It’s a good idea to stay up to date with the top ophthalmological advances in 2021, even for those who might not have issues with their vision. Here are some of the most impressive advances today.
The marked improvement of intense pulsed light (IPL)
As far as innovative advances go, IPL is one of the more common practices of ophthalmology, which means it’s only fitting to push for better and better treatment. Aside from eye treatment, dermatologists also typically use it to help with various skin conditions. For example, IPL helps ensure the meibomian glands, which are responsible for producing oil around the eyes — are working efficiently and are free of clogs.
It makes for excellent dry eye syndrome treatment and fixes many other issues surrounding the eyes. The best part is that IPL treatment continues to make strides, which means it will only get better from there.
Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT)
When it comes to treating the eyes, half the battle is about figuring out the root of the issue. Many eye problems are symptoms of an underlying issue, and OCT seeks to nip the problem at the bud. OCT is all about taking high-resolution images of the patient’s retina, ensuring that any potential problem is seen as easily as possible. It uses light rays to gauge the overall thickness of the retina, which is a non-invasive procedure that doesn’t use radiation or x-rays.
The reason why it’s a top advancement is that OCT is the very foundation of eye treatment. It’s a similar technology to other procedures such as ultrasound, and it ensures that the ophthalmologist has all the information they need to treat the patient.
Corneal Topography
Corneal topography is self-explanatory in that it seeks to diagnose the overall topography of the cornea. Considering that it makes up about seventy percent of the eye, any issues with the cornea will reflect in poor vision. Like OCT, it’s a diagnostic tool, which is often the most crucial part of eye treatment as it diagnoses the issue and makes it easier to treat patients. Doctors use corneal topography to get to the bottom of the issue if there’s a problem with the cornea. Advancements have made it much easier to diagnose eye problems, giving those with vision problems a better chance of full recovery.
The field of ophthalmology isn’t the type to sit on its laurels, which means there will be far more advancements in the years to come. You won’t have to worry about vision problems thanks to the hard work of physicians.
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