Moorfields Eye Hospital

[GarethB]

Vic,

Keractometer is the technical name of the instrument that is used to perform topography scans of the cornea.

[Lynn White]

Umm Gareth no it isn't - technically!

A topography machine scans the eye and produces topographs. A Keratometer is a machine that gives a numerical value for the curvature of the eye. Its quite limited in that it only measures across the central 4mm diameter of the cornea but is what most practitioners base their CL fittings on.

Lynn

[Andrew MacLean]

Thanks Lynne

I had thought that a Keratometer was one of those old fashioned machines with mirrors and lenses into which I used to look while the optometrist said, somewhat dispairingly, "too steep" or "off the scale".

This did not mean that I could not be fitted with lenses, because she would then rummage about in her box and find something that fitted me more or less well.

Has this old fashioned bit of kit been replaced by more modern digital toys?

Andrew

[Lynn White]

Hehe Andrew...

There are digital versions but actually they are completely flummoxed by KC! The old fashioned ones work very well still and you can get a good idea of the distortion and irregular astigmatism on a KC cornea with them.

Often the old ways are still best hehe!

Lynn

[Steven Williams]

Thanx for that clarification Lynn of a keractometer.

Dont know if it has been brought up on another thread Vic, but some interesting info on the keractometer on this link:-

http://www.keratoconus-group.org.uk/for ... sc&start=0

John Smith states:-

Whilst I'm happy for this thread to continue to talk about the merits of MEH and the quality of care there; and even a comparison of private versus NHS care, this thread is drifting severely off-topic.

I'd like to remind everyone that the funding of the NHS in general has nothing to do with Keratoconus, and is political in nature. As such, it is against the Ts & Cs of the forum.

The funding, management and resourcing of the NHS does have an influence on the NHS KC eyecare we receive imho John.

I take that as a warning and a yellow card John! I dont want to suffer the humiliation of getting banned again so I'm out of this thread!

[GarethB]

So are then some machines that can do both?

Give a topography and a numerical value?

Is this also a case where often equipment is reffered to my a sometimes mis leading generic name. We Hoover the floor, but that is a manufacturers name, really we vacuum the floor eiether with a vacuum cleaner or a cyclonic cleaner!

RGP lenses are not just contact lenses but also Scleral lenses as they can and often are made from the same material.

The hospital I go to has several ex-Moorfields people so although moorfields may be the 'main' centre of excellence, I do not feel they can provide any more for KC care than my current hospital.

[Lynn White]

Yes Gareth...

A topography machine can give a numerical value. A Keratometer cannot do a topography scan.

An autorefractor can also give a digital numerical read out.

Therefore some machines are multifunctional.

Lynn

[GarethB]

Next week I will give the optoms a slap on the wrist for using generic terms instead of the proper term