What We Can See — Each instrument looks at a different depth of your eye

At Eyecare Center of Orange County, Dr. Alexander Bonakdar has cared for patients for more than three decades. Trained at Bascom Palmer, board certified, and trusted by more than ten thousand Orange County patients since nineteen ninety one.

The corneal topographer maps the front surface of your eye point by point, like a contour map of terrain. It is the first place keratoconus and lens warpage show themselves.

The Pentacam goes further, imaging the cornea's front surface, its back surface, and its thickness all at once. The back surface is where keratoconus changes first, which is why it can be caught so early here.

OCT photographs the retina in cross section, in layers a fraction of a hair's width thick. Glaucoma and macular disease change these layers years before you would notice anything.

Some eyes cannot be seen into at all, a dense cataract can block every camera. B scan ultrasound sees straight through it to check the retina behind, and UBM does the same for the hidden angle behind the iris. Nothing else can look there.

One instrument tests function instead of structure. The ERG measures the retina's electrical response to light, and function often falters before anatomy visibly changes, in diabetes especially.

Every instrument in this video is one we use in this office. If you have ever been told you cannot be examined, or wonder what your eye looks like inside, ask.