Kriti Bhagat, OD, FAAO, did not go to The Exchange® in Denver, Colorado, earlier this year intending to buy a new optical coherence tomography (OCT) device. A Vision Source® administrator, she planned only to “walk around and make sure I stopped at the booths.” A friend who was opening a new practice was particularly interested in the Optovue Solix OCT/OCT-Angiographer (OCT-A) by Visionix, so Dr. Bhagat made it a point to gather specs and get a first-hand look.
However, she spent the next hour with an Optovue Solix representative who “showed me how to take the image and interpret it and how easy it was to use.” By the time she boarded her flight home, she was calling her accountant from the airport lounge: “I probably don’t have the money for this, but how can we do this so I can make money for it?”
Dr. Bhagat opened Eyediology Vision in Providence, Rhode Island, nearly three years ago as a cold start. A cornea and contact-lens residency graduate who had taught at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, Dr. Bhagat built early credibility among peers for specialty contact fits, especially in keratoconus. “We see a lot of keratoconus patients,” she says, and referrals flowed in from ODs and MDs alike. She purchased an OCT early so that she could support this aspect of her business.
Despite being “very happy” with her original Topcon Maestro OCT, Dr. Bhagat decided that Optovue Solix offered advances her practice needed. “The Optovue Solix does epithelial mapping, which can screen for keratoconus sooner,” she says. Maps that show early epithelial thinning can detect keratoconus before conventional changes appear, expediting referral for cross-linking or specialty lenses. The device also produces a larger sagittal diameter image, streamlining scleral lens fittings by providing multiple viewing angles in one capture.
“I was really floored by the capabilities. It was so easy to understand and use,” she says. That has improved patient workflow and staff efficiency. Previously, technicians often needed repeated captures from different meridians; the Optovue Solix delivers full-diameter data. Dr. Bhagat established simple, customizable protocols—epithelial maps, sagittal profiles, and OCT-A scans—so even a new hire could collect high-quality data before fully understanding the underlying pathology.
Following the protocol, especially for known patients, means that Dr. Bhagat can walk into the exam room knowing that all the imaging and data she needs is ready for her. There is rarely cause to send the patient back to imaging.
In her 1,400-square-foot clinic, space is at a premium. Optovue Solix’s compact footprint and OCT/OCT-A angiography capture mitigate space and time constraints. “It’s one piece of equipment that can do it all,” Dr. Bhagat says. Patients no longer need to roll from one device to another—or sit up and resettle halfway through a battery of tests. She estimates that Optovue Solix has cut time by as much as 10 minutes per referral examinations.
The Optovue Solix now serves three primary roles: keratoconus screening via epithelial mapping; enhanced corneal imaging for scleral-lens fittings; and consolidated OCT and OCT-A for retina, optic-nerve, and diabetic-retinopathy screening.
If in the future she hires an associate with a specific interest in retina or glaucoma, for example, the technology will be useful to that provider as well. As the only OCT device that has FDA-cleared OCT-A metrics and can capture structural OCT and OCT-A in one scan, the Optovue Solix will give Dr. Bhagat and staff the ability to monitor changes over time, adding further clinical value, and she can recommend needed treatments sooner.
Getting patients into treatment faster
Dr. Bhagat says that being able to use multiple imaging techniques means screening more patients and getting to a diagnosis and treatment more quickly. Putting the patient first is her guiding principle—even ahead of calculating a traditional return on investment.
It’s one reason she is grateful to have been a Vision Source member since she opened. She was able to leverage her member savings into equipment investments. “Because of Vision Source, I was able to start faster as a cold start,” she says.
Being able to practice at the highest level of her licensing is important to her practice’s success and her mission of doing all she can for patients. Bringing the Optovue Solix into the practice has allowed her to detect subclinical keratoconus earlier, leading to timely cross-linking referrals. She says she has been able to provide faster and more accurate scleral lens fittings, with fewer return visits. The now billable in-office OCT-A allows screening and monitoring of diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma and minimizes external referrals. Plus, her ability to provide these services has increased her referrals from colleagues and families trusting her advanced technology.
Dr. Bhagat emphasizes that her decision “was not financial but purely about patient care.” Again, she already had an OCT when she stopped to view the technology. But she realized that the greater diagnostic reach could lead to earlier detection and treatment. To her, the impact on patients’ clinical outcomes and the strengthened reputation as a specialty provider tipped the scales.
Dr. Kriti Bhagat is the owner and founder of Eyediology Vision, a private practice in Providence, Rhode Island and is an adjunct professor at Salus University. She earned her doctoral degree at the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and completed her residency in Cornea and Contact Lenses at The Eye Institute at Salus University in Philadelphia. She can be reached at kbhagat.od@gmail.com
This article originally appeared in the 3rd quarter edition of Vision Source OD magazine (September 2025): https://digitaledition.qwinc.com/publication/?i=852339
Disclaimer: The views and experiences expressed are those of the individual user. They may involve off-label use of the medical device, which is not endorsed or approved by the manufacturer.