Refractometry - Causes, symptoms and treatment. MF.

Refractometry is an objective method of studying refraction( refractive power) of the eye using special apparatuses - refractometers. Now in ophthalmology automatic( computer) refractometers are widely used. This is a modern method of examining the refraction of the eye, allowing you to quickly get an accurate result especially with minimal disruption. This method is widely used in pediatric ophthalmology. With the help of refractometry, various refractive anomalies, such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism, can be identified and, accordingly, correct and quickly select a correction. But, the worse the patient's vision, the less accurate the data will be, therefore, along with this method of diagnosis, others are also used that allow one to determine the refraction of the patient's eye.

To objective methods of determining refraction also include skiascopy and its variety - bar-skiascopy. Sciascopy is a more time-consuming method of research;and longer( about 10 minutes), but this method is also more accurate. But, it must be noted that when performing a skiascopy often fails to accurately determine the direction of the main meridians with astigmatism.

The principle of operation of a modern refractometer is the radiation of the device with infrared rays, which when reflected through the medium of the eyeball are reflected and recorded by the apparatus, where, using a special program, data analysis is performed. The result is displayed and printed out in print. Indications for refractometry:

1. Decreased visual acuity.
2. Pre-operative examination( in ophthalmology).
3. Evaluation of the results of laser or surgical correction of vision.

Contraindications to refractometry:

1. Disturbance of transparency of optical media of the eye( throat, cataract, opacification of the vitreous body).
2. Serious mental abnormalities in the patient.
3. Alcohol or narcotic intoxication.

Preparation of

Before the procedure for obtaining the most accurate results, it is advisable to perform atropinization within 3 days, i.e. Atropine is swallowed 2 times a day. Children under one year are prescribed 0.1% solution of atropine, children from 1 to 3 years - 0.5% solution, children over 3 years and adults are assigned 1% solution of atropine. But you do not need to do this yourself - the doctor must appoint the atropinization.

Refractometry procedure

Refractometry is performed on modern computer devices - refractometers. The patient should sit down in front of the device, place the chin on a special stand, while tightly pressing his forehead into the bar from above. The doctor will adjust the position of the patient's head. Then the patient should, without screwing up his eyes, look intently at the picture in front of his eye, which smoothly changes its sharpness. In modern devices, more complex pictures are used that can attract the attention of the patient to the time of the study, which is most important in pediatric ophthalmology. During the study, blinking is not prohibited, but the head should be immovable. The study is carried out for each eye separately.

The doctor directs the target on the screen to the center of the pupil and manually or automatically performs a series of measurements. The doctor receives the result of the study in the form of a printout issued by the device on which the data is written in the order: sphere( sph), cylinder( cyl), axis( axis).

The procedure of autorefractometry lasts for 1-2 minutes.

The procedure itself does not have any complications. Complications are possible only at atropinization - an allergic reaction. In this case, you must immediately stop using atropine and immediately consult a doctor.

Doctor ophthalmologist Odinochko EA