VSP Blog

The inside of my right eye

Working at VSP, and also wearing glasses for more than ten years, I understand the importance of healthy vision. (I’m not going to lie, either; I love getting new glasses and can never seem to have enough.) Last week when I got my yearly eye check-up, I had the option to get a digital image of my eye in lieu of a dilated exam. I have to admit, I was curious to see what the inside of my eye looked like…just what was my eye doctor (Dr. Nakamura of Natomas Optometry) looking at in there?

At first glance, I was a little concerned with the red dot in the middle and white blob off to the side, but Dr. Nakamura explained to me that the red dot was actually the macula and the white spot was the optic nerve—both were supposed to be there. The macula is responsible for seeing things in detail and our “central vision” (as in not peripheral vision) while the optic nerve is what carries the visual information to the brain. (Quick clip: the eye is like a camera.)

I thought it was rather interesting to see my own eyes on the screen in front of me. What I liked most was how Dr. Nakamura could show me that my eyes were healthy by comparing my images to sample pictures with various eye or eye-related health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, cataracts, and macular degeneration. I was happy to see my eyes didn’t have any of those problems.

P.S. I just got computer vision glasses for the first time, and I am really excited about them. I will write about what I think of them after I have used them a week or so.