Smartphone imager effective in nontraditional eye care settings

Researchers reported that the D-Eye, a smartphone imaging system, may be useful in situations where conventional fundus photography is not an option or for use by non-eye care providers for telemedicine consultation.

Matthew S. Pihlblad, MD, and Steven G. Stockslager, MD, reported in their poster at the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus Conference that the system is compatible with iPhone 5/5s/6/6s and the Samsung Galaxy S4/S5. The D-Eye system provides up to a 6-degree field of view in undilated eyes and up to 20 degrees in dilated eyes.

Pihlblad and Stockslager used the D-Eye with an iPhone 6 on pediatric patients in both outpatient and inpatient settings, with both dilated and undilated eyes and found that the D-Eye was adequate in capturing quality photos of the posterior pole in situations where standard fundus photography was impractical. The images were helpful with documentation, follow-up and discussion of complex cases with colleagues and patients, they said.

They reported weaknesses to be the high cost, the inability to use other protective/personalized smartphone cases, a significant learning curve, ease of loss or breakage of the detachable lens and limited field of view.

While the D-Eye system cannot compete with traditional fundus cameras and wide-field digital imaging systems as for clarity of field of view, the technology may have potential application in niche situations and telemedicine, according to researchers. – by Abigail Sutton

Disclosure : Supported in part by an unrestricted grant from the Research for Prevent Blindness. Materials for the study were provided, in part, by D-Eyecare.