Smart phone photography helps eye disease diagnosis

Image courtesy; flickr

Smart phones are now used to determine eye disease.

In a recent study carried out by researchers in Massachusetts Eye and Ear , using the described  technique of smart phone photography with the use of iPhone 4 or iPhone 5, the app Filmic pro, and a 20D lens with or without a Koeppe lens, researchers were able to capture excellent images.

The technique of using smart phone app in discovering eye diseases is simple, readily available and inexpensive compared to the technology of using commercial fundus cameras which can cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars therefore making the technology out of reach for physicians in developing countries.

Smart phones are now being used more routinely in ophthalmology to document patients’ ocular condition, the authors write.

“Our technique provides a simpler and higher quality method to more consistently produce excellent images of a patient’s fundus”, said senior author Shizuo Mukai, M.D., Massachusetts Eye and Ear specialist.