Sir Mike had his eyes examined on the SPECTRALIS OCT (Optical Coherence Tomographer) which can reveal the first signs of eye disease years before they might become apparent to the patient. He was delighted to learn that he showed no signs of developing glaucoma – a leading cause of preventable blindness.
Krysten Williams, UK Director of Heidelberg Engineering explained –
“Sir Mike has highlighted the need for a regular eye health check as glaucoma – has no obvious signs in the early stages of the disease. As pressure builds in the eye, the optic nerve can be irreversibly damaged, but the patient is not normally aware of this happening. The patient may not even notice vision loss because the brain cleverly compensates for any missing information. This is why regular screening is so important.”
Sir Mike toured the company’s training centre, met staff and learned about the company’s mission to support a sustainable healthcare model that devolves early detection and monitoring of eye disease into the community. This would facilitate treatment at the right time to combat avoidable sight loss.
“As Sir Mike has a keen interest in healthcare, it was a great opportunity to discuss the effects of vision loss and the tremendous opportunities to use the latest image management technologies to reduce the growing burden of an ageing population on the health service with distributed care models,” added Krysten.
Sir Mike said –
“It was fascinating to visit Heidelberg Engineering and learn about how their advanced scanning technology is helping prevent blindness through identification of patients with the early stages of glaucoma. I would encourage everyone to have regular eye checks whether they think they need new glasses or not!”
Visit www.spectralis-eyehealthcheck.co.uk to find out more about the SPECTRALIS eye health check for glaucoma.
