Office Tour
Reception and Frame Selection Area
Welcome to Burbank Optometric Center
We are located in the Media district in Western Burbank. Click here to visit our contact page and direction center.
The reception and frame selection area is the first stop on our tour. Because this area of the San Fernando Valley has long been associated with the movies, a motion picture motif was chosen. Large antique motion picture studio lights were hung from the ceiling for frame illumination. Vintage motion picture cameras with wooden tripods were stationed and old movie posters were framed and hung.
Entering the Pre-Examination Area
The annual comprehensive patients receive numerous computerized tests by staff prior to seeing the doctor.
We check four different ways, for example, for the "thief of sight" glaucoma. We are not content to just test intraocular pressure as our only test for glaucoma.
Corneal Topography
This computerized instrument maps the contours of the cornea, the front of the eye. It obtains 7,000 data points and prints a topographical map of each eye. It replaces the Keratometer which only gave only two central curves.
This new, sophisticated instrument is invaluable in exams for laser vision correction, contact lens fitting, high astigmatism and many subtle diseases.
Pre-Exam Data Collection Room
This room is fully equipped:
- Auto Refractor which can determine the prescription without the patient saying a word. This is often crucial in very old and very young patients.
- Tonometer to measure the pressure in the eye to guard against glaucoma.
- Retinal Camera for photographing the fragile, light-sensitive layer of the eye, the retina
- Visual Field computers (two) to measure the peripheral vision. This test acts as an early warning against glaucoma, MS, and other diseases of the eye, optic nerves, and brain. The newest, the Welch Allyn Frequency Doubling Technology, does its job completely in less than 60 seconds.
- Visual acuity a test of how well you see.
Pre-Exam Data Collection Room
There are three private examination rooms where the optometrist reviews the Pre-Exam Data and uses various microscopes and instruments to examine the eyes. Each room is fully equipped. Dr. Simms and Dr. Sowby cover for each other when the other doctor is unavailable.
Both Dr. Simms and Dr. Sowby have all three California Optometric licenses and are equipped for full-scope primary eye care:
- General Optometric License
- Topical Pharmaceutical Agents (TPA)
- Treatment and Management of Ocular Disease (TMOD)
For a discussion of the services in the exam room please see Services Comprehensive Eye Examination.
