Patient Safety, Infection Control and Professional Practice Standards
Optical safety
OCT uses low-power, non-ionising near-infrared light; there is no ionising radiation and no magnetic field, so pregnancy and implanted electronic devices are not contraindications in themselves. Output at the cornea is typically well under a milliwatt and within the applicable laser safety standard (ANSI Z136 series and local equivalents), making clinical OCT instruments Class 1 devices in normal use. Nevertheless, the operator should avoid direct viewing into the beam, keep the instrument in its intended configuration, never defeat interlocks, and use the fixation target as designed. Patients with light-sensitivity or migraine may need breaks.
Infection control
Apply standard precautions: hand hygiene before and after every patient; wipe the chin rest, forehead rest and any patient-contact surfaces with the approved disinfectant between patients; use single-use barriers where provided and never reuse them; keep the instrument away from splash contamination; and follow local policy if a patient has a known transmissible infection or a weeping skin lesion.
Professional practice
Obtain and document informed consent for dilation where required, screen for angle-closure risk before mydriasis, protect privacy (images and reports are identifiable health information), retain images per local record-keeping rules, and record quality and repeat scans. Only trained, credentialed staff should acquire or interpret scans; report critical findings to the responsible clinician promptly, and never let an auto-generated report replace image review.
Traps: overstating OCT as a radiation hazard; assuming dilation is always harmless; skipping surface disinfection because the patient did not touch the machine; releasing images without verifying identity; interpreting a poor-quality scan to avoid an inconvenient repeat.
Rule of thumb: every patient, every time - clean hands, clean contact surfaces, correct patient identity, documented consent, and a scan of adequate quality before anyone interprets it.