Choosing the Proper Slit Lamps for Client Comfort and Excellent Results

Choosing the Proper Slit Lamps for Client Comfort and Excellent
Results
Choosing from the wide array of available slit lamps on the market
can leave your mind spinning. While this critical piece of equipment
would appear to be a straight forward choice, once you start seeing
all the different features and options you suddenly have more
questions than answers. How can you make the right choice to
provide patient comfort, fast working conditions for you, and stay
within a reasonable budget?
Your Choice Begins with Defining Your Needs
What choice of slit lamps makes sense for your practice? For a veterinarian a free standing slit lamp is
impractical. The idea of keeping an animal stationary is pure fiction. Vets prefer to have a hand-help slit
lamp, similar to the Heine HSL 150. These are not only ideal for veterinarians but are a great addition
for an Ophthalmologist’s office, too. It provides for fast convenient use in situations where you cannot
seat the patient in your traditional chair.
A more traditional choice of slit lamps would be the Haag-Streit 900BQ. It can give you both still
photographs and video simultaneously. It is an ideal solution for an examination room with cutting edge
technology and optics.
Should You Consider Pre-Owned Equipment for Your Practice?
If you are trying to keep your cash outlay to a minimum it is tempting to purchase pre-owned slit lamps,
especially for an extra examination room. Before choosing pre-owned you need to consider a few
questions:
 Does the pre-owned equipment have a warranty?
 Is the equipment guaranteed to be in perfect working condition?
 Are you sacrificing the latest technology for saving a few dollars?
 Who will service your pre-owned slit lamps if they have problems?
The answers to these questions vary greatly between Ophthalmic Equipment Dealers. When you
choose a high quality dealer they often provide a warranty, guarantee the equipment, only provide high
quality equipment, and service what they sell. Be careful who you partner with when considering pre-
owned slit lamps or you may end up having higher expenses than buying new.
How Important is Service To Your Practice?
This comes right back to the issue of who you partner with when buying your
equipment. When you partner with a company who has been in the business for
years they understand the importance of matching a comfortable chair, the proper

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slit lamps, and other equipment in your examination room.
They understand your practice is not based upon one piece of equipment, but a wide range of
equipment working seamlessly together to provide you the optimal work area and the highest level
patient satisfaction. Any item which is overlooked or improperly installed can cause long-term problems
for you.
You should only partner with providers which can provide on-site service and have a staff of trained
service technicians. The number one comfort feature to any patient is prompt service, a skilled
ophthalmologist, and equipment which work flawlessly. Your choice of the right brand of slit lamps is
important, but your choice of equipment providers may be even more important.

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