Innovations in OCTs and new shared care schemes have triggered the greatest surge of interest in optical technology for decades.
The trend was underlined by strong footfall to the stands of instrument companies exhibiting at the optical profession’s largest trade show last month.
Zoe Smith, head of marketing at Birmingham Optical, said OCT was getting the biggest push at this year’s Optrafair.
‘We’ve been demonstrating three OCTs and there’s been no empty seats for the whole duration,’ she told Optician. ‘The footfall has been amazing and orders have been aligned to our expectations.’
Smith agreed that optometrists in the UK were looking to differentiate themselves by offering shared care schemes. ‘The timing has been great for us because of the launch our latest OCT [the new Nidek Retina Scan Duo OCT].’
A representative from Japanese manufacturer Nidek had confirmed during the show that Birmingham Optical had registered more orders for its latest OCT model than any other distributor across its 110 country network during the first quarter.
‘The world is looking at what Birmingham Optical has done to launch this OCT,’ added Smith.
Similar feedback was registered throughout last month’s Birmingham NEC show.
Heidelberg Engineering UK director Krysten Williams said: ‘The show saw huge interest in OCT with practitioners looking at upgradeable OCT platform and multi-modality imaging.
‘We have not seen such a surge in demand for technology since retinal cameras stole the show in 1999 – it has been a similar scenario at this Optrafair.’
Emma Baynes, marketing and communications executive at Carl Zeiss said: ‘We had a fantastic show at Optrafair this year with the launch of our new HFA3 and new applications for our CIRRUS HD-OCT. We look forward to returning to Optrafair next year for another successful event.’
Topcon chose Optrafair to launch its latest swept source OCT the DRi Triton, which had ‘the world’s fastest scanning speeds’, it said. Andy Yorke, managing director of Topcon Medical GB, added: ‘This year’s Optrafair had a degree of apprehension wrapped around it for me in the light of the fact that Optrafair London only seemed like yesterday. I really need not have been, as this year’s fair was a complete success and we were delighted with the results and number of visitors to the show. Optrafair 2016 is less than 12 months away and I can’t wait for it to come around again.’
Haag-Streit unveiled the new AngioVue OCT-Angiography system at the show, and saw ‘quite a buzz' around its stand. Sharon Mills, Haag-Streit UK marketing manager, said: ‘We were also delighted to support the Optrafair education programme. In addition to sponsoring the Advancements in high-resolution, wide-field imaging and OCT lecture, HS-UK was one of the four key sponsors of the Show and Tell equipment workshops, which gave delegates an opportunity to earn valuable CET points.’