By Todd Hostetter, COMT, FCLSA, Eye Care Alliance
Eye Care Alliance is a partner of Local Eye Site and powers the Equipment Exchange
Corneal topography today is underutilized in both optometry and ophthalmology. It’s one of the least expensive instruments that has a CPT associated with it. It can also be used for screening or the cost of the exam can be bundled into a contact lens or refractive surgery consultation for increased revenue.
In contact lens practices, too many believe that soft lenses are so “easy on the eye”, but often corneal distortion goes unnoticed everyday without corneal topography. If you are not using some kind of frequent replacement soft lens, lenses dry out or are fairly low in oxygen permeability potentially resulting in corneal moulding. Using corneal topography pre-fit and routinely post-fit with contact lenses will help you provide better patient contact lens follow-up in addition to your expert slit lamp biomicroscopy and accurate refraction history. CT is a must for specialty contact lens fitters using RGP’s, soft torics and corneal refractive therapy lenses.
Cataract surgeons use corneal topography more and more for premium IOL evaluations, specifically when selecting aspheric and toric IOL’s. Also, CT is a must for refractive surgery evaluations pre- and post-op.
There are many choices for topography, but use the same criteria you would use with any equipment purchase….does the unit have the features I need? Will I get support from the seller in terms of training and how to fit it into my practice? Does the company have a history with manufacturing and selling corneal topographers? If it’s used, does the manufacturer still support this model and what kind of warranty comes with it?
So, if you’re in the market for an instrument in 2011 that will provide a lot of utility for your practice from a modest investment, it may be time to look at corneal topography.
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