Quantel's Amélie Chassaing and Device's Ryan Heggie

Making its debut in the Australasian region on Device Technologies’ stand was the new Topcon 3D OCT-1 Maestro2, combining OCT, true colour fundus photography and automated OCT angiography.

“Maestro2 is Topcon’s brand-new OCT and the first fully automated product to perform OCT angiography,” said Device’s Ryan Heggie. As well as replacing fluorescein angiography, OCT angiography has many other applications in optometry, including being able to detail and image the retina’s vascular structure, so clinicians can better understand and diagnose common eye disease, he said. “It also has a completely automated, follow-up scan mode, so you can get the same B-scan image as the previous visit, making it really easy to track progression and change over time.”

Two other new products taking pride of place on Device’s stand were Quantel Medical’s Lacrydiag ocular surface analyser, designed to diagnose dry eye swiftly with no contact, and its new intense pulsed light (IPL) Lacrystim dry eye disease treatment system, unveiled for the first time at O=Mega19.

“We landed the first unit in Australia, just the other day,” said Heggie. “It has a water-filled handpiece, which ensures you get an even power distribution from the first shot to the last shot and you only have to use a very thin layer of gel on the eye. With other (IPL) products, the patients have to wear face masks or require a lot more gel across the cheek.”

Lacrystim also has a unique wavelength which extends from 610nm to 12nm making it a safe and suitable treatment for all skin types, including darker skins, he said.

For more on dry eye disease diagnosis and treatment see p13-39.