Unfortunately, this disease can develop with little to no symptoms until your vision is affected. Glaucoma can lead to permanent, severe vision loss if not treated early enough. An estimated 3 million Americans have glaucoma, and this condition is common in older adults over 60. Glaucoma is a progressive group of diseases that can damage your optic nerve. You can protect your vision by seeing your optometrist regularly. This disease doesn’t cause complete blindness, but you can lose your ability to recognize faces and drive. Wet AMD: This is a condition where abnormal blood vessels leak fluid & blood into the maculaĭry AMD is a chronic and progressive condition, while wet AMD is a medical emergency.Dry AMD: This is a condition where your vision blurs as your macula thins.This part of the eye is responsible for your forward vision.

You lose your central vision while your peripheral vision remains unaffected.ĪMD occurs when aging begins to damage your macula. Age-Related Macular DegenerationĪge-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that damages your central vision. The macula is responsible for your central vision, and it can significantly impact your eyesight if damaged. This condition causes the swelling of the retinal tissue, which obscures the macula. There is a risk of diabetic macular edema at both stages of diabetic retinopathy. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy: This is the advanced stage of this condition where there is decreased circulation to the retina tissue, causing new fragile blood vessels to develop these vessels can break & leak blood into the eye or cause sudden vision loss.Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy: This stage occurs when the blood vessels in the retina are weakened, leading to microaneurysms these bulges can cause fluid to leak into the retina.The blood vessels in your eyes can become damaged, leading to diabetic retinopathy. Your optometrist can diagnose the following conditions with a retinal scan: Diabetic Retinopathyĭiabetes can be difficult to manage, and your blood sugar levels can impact your vision. Some of these conditions are difficult to diagnose without a detailed look into the structures of your eye. What Can a Retinal Scan Help Diagnose?Ī retinal scan can help your optometrist diagnose several eye conditions that can significantly affect your vision. Your optometrist can save these images for monitoring a condition’s progression or how your healing process is going. Your eye doctor can use a retinal scan to identify eye diseases that aren’t visibly noticeable. Optometrists typically use a device called an ophthalmoscope to look at the back of the eye. What is a Retinal Scan?Ī retinal scan takes several photos of the back of your eye, visualizing your retina, optic disc, and blood vessels. What is a retinal scan? Continue reading to learn more about this tool, including what it is, how it works, and what diseases it can help identify. One of these tools is called a retinal scan, but how does this instrument work? Your optometrist has many different diagnostic tools they use during an eye exam.

Retina scan device