New England Ophthalmic Photographers Society (NEOPS) Meeting

A large part of the New England Ophthalmic Photographers Seminar centered on new developments in photography. Sarah Moyer, CRA, OCT-C, spoke about the changes with OCT, or optical coherence tomography. Sarah also ended the seminar with a rare case symposium, comprised of photos of rare ophthalmic diseases or injuries, including photos of a patient who lost both eyes due to a C4 explosion, a patient with UV exposure burns from a laser, and a patient with a traumatic injury to the eyelid from a dog bite.

Darrin Landry, CRA, OCT-C, from Eyecare Medical Group in Portland, ME, gave a discussion on imaging for Age-Related Macular Degeneration and vascular occlusions. Darrin discussed different imaging techniques for these diseases, including fluorescein antiography, ICG, and OCT, and showed photographs of different stages of these diseases, as well as how the diseases respond to different treatments.

Laura Vittorioso, M. Ed, from the Iris Network, discussed Low Vision. She discussed the differences between being legally blind versus total blindness, and the different tools that can assist patients who suffer from low vision. Laura went over a low vision evaluation, which includes a comprehensive case history, co morbidities that can affect low vision, and a plan of care for the patient that includes a meeting with an occupational therapist to establish training goals and treatment. Laura identified that people are living longer enough now to develop eye disease, and she discussed how Maine has a large visually impaired population.

Jean Proctor, RN, of Eyecare Medical Group in Portland, Maine, gave a discussion on the technician’s role in laser vision correction surgery. Jean talked about all the testing that is done to determine if a patient is a candidate for laser vision correction, including a manifest and cycloplegic refraction, determination of a patients dominant eye, and pachymetry testing, or the measurement of a patients corneal thickness. Jean also talked about what makes a person a good candidate for refractive surgery, including assessing a patient’s personality to make sure that their expectations are realistic, and the different kinds of surgery a patient might be a candidate for, such as LASIK surgery, or a surface treatment such as PRK. She discussed monovision for patients who are already presbyopic, and the differences between a myopic LASIK correction versus a hyperopic correction.