Telemedicine

Veterinary Eye Center is now offering telemedicine visits! 

To comply with Texas regulations, remote service (patient not present for exam) is limited to patients that we have physically examined by the veterinarian at a hospital visit.  Medications can only be prescribed per law for patients who have been examined within the last 12 months.  If your animal has not been seen recently or medication refills are needed for a patient not seen in the last 12 months, an in-person exam will be needed before telemedicine consults can be used.

 We have two types:

1) Video or phone conferencing during an appointment when the patient comes into our hospital.  We will send you a link for video conferencing through our telemedicine program with your appointment confirmation.  This type of telemedicine visit can be performed for new or established patients.

2)  Remote telemedicine consultations without the patient present but using photographs and communication by video conference to assess the progress, response to treatments, and ongoing problems.  This type of visit is only available to established patients who have been physically examined within at least the prior 12 months.

Remote visits are ideal as a screening tool when the patient has an eye change or for when you cannot get in to see us in person.  This service is ideal for our clients who live far away, or for animals that don't travel well. 

If you have a life-threatening emergency, please call your local animal emergency hospital and do not rely on a telemedicine consultation.

When you need us remotely, contact us by phone or client portal to set up a telemedicine visit with Dr. Yu-Speight.  We will set up a time and send you a link for a video conference.  You will also be given a link to a client portal where you can upload any photographs or videos and you can write to us.  Photos are essential for a remote eye evaluation.  For the best photographs:

• Tap your iPhone screen to focus on the center of the eye.  When possible, use the Macro setting on your camera.
• Shining a focused beam of light into the eye from the side with the camera flash off can also help demonstrate problems inside the eye. 
• Take several photographs - it often takes 10 photos to get one or two good ones
  

Be aware that we can't diagnose all problems this way and telemedicine provides less information than in-person exams because we will not have dry eye / corneal stain / eye pressure test results and no data on the back of the eye.  Generally, in-person examinations for a 3-dimensional exam will still be needed periodically to more carefully monitor ongoing care.

Telemedicine visits have a lower cost than in-person exams because eye testing is not being performed and less information is also obtained.