Optometric Uses Of Ultrasound

OIt has long been noted that there are ever expanding uses for ultrasound machine technology in the medical environment. But in the mind of most non-medical people, ultrasound is still associated with obstetrics. The increasingly-less-fuzzy images of a unborn baby still in its mother’s womb are powerful indeed, while the new 3D images are even more so. But the power of ultrasound use in medical practice extends far beyond the obstetrical practice and fuzzy baby picture keepsakes.

Eye surgeons are beginning to use ultrasound machine technology more and more. In the case of trauma to the eye, a way had to be found to obtain an image of the injured eye while minimizing the brain’s exposure to ionizing radiation like x rays or CT scans. Ultrasound meets those requirements nicely and uses no ionizing radiation. Ultrasound machines can also be used to provide guidance when the surgeon must perform delicate procedures in and behind the fragile structures of the eye.

But there a more common use for ultrasound one that eye surgeons have placed at the center of corneal procedures. In corneal surgery, both for vision correction and transplantation, the measurement of the thickness of the cornea has become more and more important. There is even a type of surgery where the cornea is removed and shaped to become a living contact lens.

But all of these options are dependent on one thing: the thickness of the cornea. Measurement of the corneal thickness has a term, pachymetry. Ultrasound technology has become so ingrained with this term that the two are now used together. Ultrasound pachymetry is now what these measurements are called.

A specially designed and sized ultrasound probe is placed in the center of the eye and measures the thickness of the cornea much as the more common ultrasound collects images, with reflected sound waves. In this instance, the software that interprets the waves is a bit simpler.

In fact, other newer methods of pachymetry are being measured against ultrasound pachymetry. It has been, and will remain the gold standard for measurement both before and after eye surgery. One other essential for accurate ultrasound pachymetry is the skill of the technician, an important component of any successful ultrasound procedure.

Ultrasound Machine Tags: Medical Equipment, Ultrasound, ultrasound machine, Ultrasound Machines, ultrasound probe