Portable, Patient-Operated Imaging System Could Help Doctors Diagnose Eye Health

A simple method to image a patient's eye developed at Rice University could help diagnose eye health and spot signs of macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Generally, doctors have to dilate a patient's eyes - an uncomfortable, time-consuming process - before an exam that can involve expensive equipment. The new patient-operated, portable device is called mobileVision and it looks and works something like a reverse microscope. It pairs with a smartphone to give clinicians finely detailed images of the macula, the spot in the center of the eye where vision is sharpest, without dilation. Those images are then sent by phone to ophthalmologists who can make their diagnoses from afar.