American Eyecare Continues Tradition Of High Quality, Tech Focused Care

Burlington, IA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/29/2015 -- American Eyecare, a local optometric practice with a reputation for forward thinking, technology minded patient care, recently announced the newest addition to its eye care office, state of the art OCT technology.

Optical Coherence Tomography, also known as OCT, is a game changing technology in the field of Optometry. In explaining how the new OCT technology works, Dr. Tod Gerhardt comments, " This amazing device uses a sophisticated laser platform to capture extremely accurate images of the eye, with detail down to 1/100th the width of a human hair, and is able to identify eye disease undetectable to the human eye. Even the standard view of the doctor through a microscope cannot see this kind of incredible detail! This kind of detail allows us to see the eye like never before to find disease when it starts, not when halfway to blindness, and allowing us to change course if need be to tailor treatment to the unique needs of each patient. "

The amazing accuracy and detail made possible by OCT has revolutionized the early detection and treatment of many eye diseases, including glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, vascular disease and buried drusen. This increased ability to detect these earlier than ever before, helps our experienced doctors here at American Eyecare treat their patients with greater success and accuracy.

All patients can benefit from receiving an OCT scan during their next yearly comprehensive eye exam, especially those with a family or personal history of disease. According to Dr. Gerhardt, "The patient experience is extremely comfortable and convenient, requiring only about 15 seconds staring at a red light in the device while the eye is scanned. Afterwards, we can show the patients the images we look at to give them a very personal look at their own ocular health or disease. The software includes a progression mode that we can use to quickly show whether or not the disease is stable or worsening. In this way we have identified dozens of patient with wet macular degeneration at the point in time it starts and have been able to dramatically change the course of the disease by early diagnosis, management, and treatment."

For more information about the advantages of OCT, come see us at American Eyecare today!

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Dr. Tod Gerhardt: New Visual Field Analyzer Is Quatum Leap In Disease Detection

Burlington, IA -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/16/2015 -- American Eyecare, a local optometry practice known for its superior patient care and technology, has recently unveiled the latest addition to its advanced eye care offerings, a Visual Field Analyzer.

"The visual field analyzer measures and evaluates an individual's unique and current field of vision, and identifies and quantifies potential disease," explains Dr. Tod Gerhardt of American Eyecare, "Among the important diseases the visual field analyzer is able to detect are glaucoma, macular degeneration, ocular tumors, diabetic eye disease, retinal detachments, stroke, brain tumors, aneurysms, genetic eye disorders, and many other disease associated with and affecting a person's visual field. It is important to catch these conditions as early as possible, as many of them have no initial symptoms and significant vision may be lost if a person waits until they notice a change in their vision before coming for an eye exam."

Discussing further about how the visual field analyzer helps identify eye related conditions, Dr. Gerhardt explains, "Very specific defects occur in an individual's field of vision that are too small for most people to perceive in everyday life. The Visual Field Analyzer identifies and helps quantify loss of vision in glaucoma. This allows the doctor to determine several things, including whether treatment should be initiated, if the current treatment is proving effective and if the patient is complying with the recommended treatment."

In the past, Visual Field Analysis tests have involved a noisy machine that could take 15 to 20 minutes per eye. By comparison the current visual field analysis technology at American Eyecare is non-invasive and no touch, and requires a quick 5 to 6 minutes per eye in a quiet, low-lit room.

When discussing the types of patients he would recommend the visual field analysis test to, Dr. Gerhardt suggests that any person who is experiencing persistent and/or unexplained headaches, double vision, wavy vision, flashes of light or floaters should speak to their eye doctor about having this test done to check for possible underlying eye conditions.

Dr. Gerhardt also likes to relate the positive impact the visual field analyzer has had on his patients. He relates, "A young adult patient with persistent headaches was found to have a very specific visual field defect in both eyes that led to the discovery of a pituitary tumor. It was a large tumor that was successfully treated that eliminated the headaches and allowed for resolution of several other systemic conditions."

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