EYESIGHT CARE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19964, 4 December 1926, Page 3

EYESIGHT CARE.

AUTOMATIC INSTRUMENTS. FIRST UNIT IN DUNEDIN. The arrival in Dunedin of the Genothalmic Automatic Unit, the finest combination of sight-testing instruments in the world, will be noted with interest. This handsome-looking unit, the instruments of which are perfectly balanced to swing smoothly into any position to conform with the wishes and comfort of patient or consultant, includes a visual sight-testing apparatus, a refractor, and opthalmometer, these three parts constituting an outfit which makes sighttesting and its hitherto protracted consultations and personal examinations matters of ease, speed, and accuracy, which are the essential elements of successful optometric service. The old-time methods of testing by means of letter charts on the walls at various distances are replaced iu an ingenious manner in the camera-like charts show by one section of this automatic unit. There are no risks or chances taken with regard to the effects of daylight, for this chart reading Is attended by the immediate regulating of luminosity, or density of illumination, enabling the operator quickly to ascertain the extent to which any eyes are sensitive to light or colour. It can be readily imagined that ai. instrument capable of making diagnosis possible under such conditions is extremely valuable. FEATURES OF INTEREST. The refractor is also an entirely new optical device, which disposes with the necessity of handling trial frames for the trying of various lenses which may be f required before a patient is suited. The old style was so distracting ana cumbersome that this accessory of the unit, with lenses categorically contained in dustproof batteries and automatically discharged by the turning of a knob, makes the work of selecting lenses a simple task for both optician and patient. The opthalmometer attached to the unit is the finest instrument invented for examining the eyes for detecting corneal astigmatism, which is one of the most frequent of eye troubles. It measures with wonderful precision, and, as astigmatism is more or less a fixed surface quantity, the accuracy of this appliance in determining the extent of defection is reliable without much need of operative judgment. . The presence of this unit in Dunedin may well be regarded as ,a most progressive step in the interests of the community and provincial residents, and Mr Peter G. Dick, a graduate of the British Optical Association (London), and a Fellow of the Institute of Ophthalmic Opticians (England), is to be complimented upon this acquisition to his optical rooms, which iu equipment and appointments will rink amongst the finest of consulting suites in Australasia. —41226