Researchers from Stanford University have developed inexpensive adapters that enable a smartphone to capture very precise images of the eye.
The adapters allow anyone with minimal training to take a picture of the front and back of the eye, to share this image securely with other eyecare professionals or to download it to the patient's electronic record. One of the developers of the device, ophthalmologist Robert Chang, likens it to Instagram for the eye.
Such a device would be extremely helpful in providing eye care in remote locations or in disadvantaged regions where paying for leading-edge medical equipment is a challenge. This could also accelerate diagnoses in emergency rooms.
Imagine a car accident victim arriving in the emergency department with an eye injury resulting in a hyphema. Normally the physician would have to describe this finding in the patient's record with words alone. Smartphones today not only have the camera resolution to supplement those words with a high-resolution photo, but also the data-transfer capability to upload that photo securely to the medical record in a matter of seconds, explained Dr. Chang.
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