Fundus Imaging Overview

Introduction

Excerpt from:
Ophthalmic Photography: Retinal Photography, Angiography, and Electronic Imaging, 2^nd Edition
Patrick J. Saine and Marshall E. Tyler
Butterworth-Heinemann Medical; ISBN: 0750673729

Fundus photography documents the retina, the neurosensory tissue in our eyes which translates the optical images we see into the electrical impulses our brain understands. The retina can be photographed directly as the pupil is used as both an entrance and exit for the fundus camera's illuminating and imaging light rays. The patient sits at the fundus camera with their chin in a chin rest and their forehead against the bar. An ophthalmic photographer focuses and aligns the fundus camera. A flash fires as the photographer presses the shutter release, creating a fundus photograph like the picture above. Ophthalmologists use these retinal photographs to follow, diagnose, and treat eye diseases.

Fundus photography can be performed with colored filters, or with specialized dyes including fluorescein and indocyanine green.