Ophthalmoscopy in the era of optical coherence tomography [Ophthalmoskopie im Zeitalter der optischen Kohärenztomographie]

For more than one and a half centuries ophthalmoscopy has been the main diagnostic procedure in ophthalmology for diagnosing retinal diseases. The techniques have improved over the years and ophthalmoscopy is still the gold standard for all retinal diseases, especially for peripheral retinal diseases. The introduction of optical coherence tomography (OCT) has revolutionized ocular diagnostics of macular diseases as OCT is able to detect retinal changes that cannot be diagnosed as well with ophthalmoscopy alone. Nevertheless, diagnosis of a retinal disease should not be made on the basis of OCT findings alone but always in combination with ophthalmoscopy. If necessary further diagnostic procedures should be added to improve the accuracy of diagnosis, to follow the course of the disease and to control the success of treatment. © 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.