Just like any other professional, it is hard to get an eye care practice equipped. There are so many cool toys that you will want to buy but there will not be enough money to get them all. If you don’t do your research you could end up buying a lot of specialty ophthalmic instrument that cleans out your bank account and never pays for itself. So it is time to ask yourself the most important question for an eye care newbie. What ophthalmic equipment is a necessity? Here are the basics:
· The exam chair – You need a place for your patient to sit and it needs to make them comfortable while you tinker with their eye. This will be one of the most expensive purchases that you will make in the beginning because it needs to be durable and you will need to adjust it to accommodate the patient. If you find one new for under a thousand dollars then it’s a steal but many Ophthalmic Equipment suppliers will have used ones much cheaper.
· Phoropter and Refractor Instrument – except for the chair, this instrument will be used more than any other. It uses different lenses that allow you to gauge the patient’s prescription. They vary in price but are generally expensive. You may want to check out the ophthalmic used equipment for this purchase.
· Ophthalmoscope – Next to the chair and Phoropter, this tool will be your workhorse. It comes in a direct and an indirect design. A direct design is a hand-held device that does everything for you because the light and the lens are both built into the same housing. The indirect comes in two separate parts though. The handheld portion contains the lens and the light is affixed to a headband that you wear. Both types can be found for fewer than 500 dollars and much if you are buying used ophthalmic equipment.
· Chart projector – There is little to explain about this device because we have all seen one. It projects the words and letters onto a screen so that the patient’s eyesight can be measured. These projectors tend to be around 200 dollars and will last for a long time.
· Keratometer – This is the last of the tools that are a requirement for an eye care practice. It measures the curvature of the patient’s eye and can be found for around 500 dollars new.