What do OCT machines do?
OCT machines are sophisticated scanners which acquire multiple cross-sectional images of different parts of the eye, allowing mugh higher understanding of a variety of disease processes.

They can be used to diagnose and monitor a variety of disorders of the retina and optic nerve including macular degeneration, retinal vein occlusion, diabetic eye disease, and glaucoma.

Is it useful for patients to receive a print-out of their OCT scan?
A typical OCT study will acquire several hundred images of the back of the eye, and these images are then scrolled through in order to gain a complete picture. A single print-out usually only captures one ‘slice’ of the entire study, so although major problems can be highlighted in this way, it is clinically most useful to be able to scroll through the entire study on the computer where the scan was acquired. For this reason OCT studies are not normally printed out.