Type 2 UK 91 yo T2 eye test protocol?

[Jaylee]

So, an update. The hospital appointment that he's had (and took most of a morning) was to test for glaucoma and occular hypertension, all OK. The on he hasn't yet had is a retinopathy one. My mind absolutely boggles that they couldn't do both at the same time....

I go for the usual retinopathy checks at the same ophthalmology department at the hospital I have been treated for macula oedema & get regular checks the MO don't come back. Lol, I've never had both scaned for & assessed at the same time.
There are two rooms with different ways of scanning situated next door to eachother?
I've gone for one appointment, then a few days later gone for the yearly ret scan & sat waiting in the same corridor seat?

I've been lucky having some pretty understanding employers...

 

[Sax]

The glaucoma testing frequency is more variable - annual checks for glaucoma are only viable if patients are compliant with their medication regime and this is notoriously bad for eye drops for elderly patients, who don't see immediate consequences for non-compliance. So they'd need to read the file for every patient to work out if a retinopathy test is required or not each time a patient comes in for a check to combine them. The logic from the hospital point of view that its easier to make the patient do more work and travel twice, rather than add to their workload one iota.

At least with Covid, they no longer pile up the outpatient waiting rooms like a log stack in the belief that this will help maximise the efficiency of their operations; instead mostly just maximising vulnerable peoples exposure to disease transfer while they wait 1 hr to be seen. Lets hope they keep it that way going forward.

 

[EllieM]

The glaucoma testing frequency is more variable - annual checks for glaucoma are only viable if patients are compliant with their medication regime and this is notoriously bad for eye drops for elderly patients,

Thanks, that makes sense, though I should point out that my father doesn't have a glaucoma medication regime, as he hasn't (so far) had glaucoma? But maybe that means he just has a thorough test less often than he would have if he did have glaucoma?
At 59, all I've ever had is a puff of air on my eyeball but am guessing that older people need more comprehensive testing?

 

[Sax]

Thanks, that makes sense, though I should point out that my father doesn't have a glaucoma medication regime, as he hasn't (so far) had glaucoma? But maybe that means he just has a thorough test less often than he would have if he did have glaucoma?
At 59, all I've ever had is a puff of air on my eyeball but am guessing that older people need more comprehensive testing?

The air puff test - if you want a crude analogy its a bit like a doing a random finger strip blood test - it may pick up warning signs of a problem but won't give the detail. The equivalent checks at the hospital are more involved but more accurate. For example a true pressure reading requires measuring cornea thickness (especially if short sighted) but the air puff test assumes average thickness. In addition to eye pressure you will usually play a game of spot-the-dot while wearing a pirate patch (field of vision test to detect areas of vision loss), and have the optic nerve discs checked for signs of glaucoma related damage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optic_disc).

Good link here for what might have driven a referral for what hopefully was just a false positive:
https://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/patient-information/eye/being-a-glaucoma-suspect.pdf

 

[EllieM]

Thanks @Sax, that makes perfect sense, false positive (or maybe just a standard check for everyone over 90???) followed by a morning at the hospital to do the proper checking.