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COMMENTARY
Year : 2019  |  Volume : 67  |  Issue : 10  |  Page : 1692

Commentary: The glued intraocular lens smartphone microscope


1 Department of Glaucoma, Westend Eye Hospital, Cochin; Department of Ophthalmology, Little Flower Hospital, Angamaly, Kerala, India
2 Department of Ophthalmology, Jubilee Mission Medical College, Thrissur, Kerala, India

Date of Web Publication23-Sep-2019

Correspondence Address:
Dr. Anju Kuriakose
Westend Eye Hospital, Kacheripady, Chittoor Road, Cochin - 682 018, Kerala
India
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_986_19

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How to cite this article:
Akkara JD, Kuriakose A. Commentary: The glued intraocular lens smartphone microscope. Indian J Ophthalmol 2019;67:1692

How to cite this URL:
Akkara JD, Kuriakose A. Commentary: The glued intraocular lens smartphone microscope. Indian J Ophthalmol [serial online] 2019 [cited 2024 Mar 29];67:1692. Available from: https://journals.lww.com/ijo/pages/default.aspx/text.asp?2019/67/10/1692/267473



The term glued intraocular lens [1] (IOL) brings to mind the innovative technique of scleral fixated IOL that changed the landscape of secondary IOL fixation. The accompanying article [2] describes a vastly different glued IOL, one that is not about surgery or any advanced techniques, but about frugal clinical indovation. The photographs in the photo essay are taken by a smartphone without using a slit lamp or actual microscope. Instead, this young innovator glued a discarded polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) intraocular lens to the back of a smartphone. High-volume surgical centers with trainee surgeons often have IOLs discarded due to broken haptics or slipped out of the sterile field, which can be used for this purpose. The method described provides a simple and effective option for photographing anterior segment. In addition, the attachment made is so portable and thin that it can be stored in the smartphone case itself.

This has several applications in places where slit lamps are not available or feasible. Anterior segment photographs of children and bedridden patients can be taken easily. Eye camps very rarely have slit lamps, so this can be used as a partial substitute for anterior segment evaluation.

Most commercially available smartphone macrophotography lenses cannot be stored within the smartphone case but are quite portable. We saw in a previous issue how one of those lenses can be used for photography of the optic nerve head.[3] This current modification makes that fundus photography technique much easier and more portable. There are also some smartphone macrophotography lenses that come with their own adjustable illumination, which can potentially give better photos. On the much more expensive side, there are handheld slit lamps of several different designs, some of which have the option of smartphone photography. The advantages of these are the slit illumination and cobalt blue filters. The binocular devices are larger but give stereopsis for depth perception, but has no advantage for the photographs. The monocular devices are smaller and have some designs with a fixed slit, whereas other have adjustable slit and have the option to easily attach a smartphone. We can hope that someone develops a smartphone microscope with adjustable slit illumination and filters at low cost very soon.

Thomas Larson had made a Kickstarter project for a small 150× lens to fix on the smartphone camera to convert it into a microscope.[4] This allows viewing of mounted slides to be viewed live on the smartphone screen. Manu Prakash had developed an origami paper microscope called Foldscope,[5] which has been used in a published study to look for Schistosoma blood parasites.[6] These microscopes can potentially be used for examining scrapings from corneal ulcers. A minor modification of the glued IOL microscope should be able to achieve this.

This is truly the age of smartphones in frugal ophthalmic innovation.[7] Every so often, we see advancements in this field that makes the life of an ophthalmologist easier. With the help of an ordinary slit lamp and a mid-range smartphone, this article [8] guides you to take excellent photographs of diffuse illumination, slit illumination, Descemet's membrane tears, vitreous in anterior chamber, keratic precipitates, retroillumination, specular endothelial images, 90D fundus, gonioscopy, etc., comparable to a commercial photo slit lamp. Posterior segment photographs and videos can be taken on smartphone using adapters such as DIYretcam,[9] HopeScope, MIIretcam, Jaiz Retcam, oDocs Fundus 3-D printed retcam, T3retcam,[10] Remidio Fundus-on-Phone, etc. Hope that the knowledge of these techniques enables ophthalmologists---young ophthalmology residents in particular, to take smartphone clinical photographs to ask seniors for guidance and for publication.



 
  References Top

1.
Agarwal A, Kumar DA, Jacob S, Baid C, Agarwal A, Srinivasan S. Fibrin glue-assisted sutureless posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation in eyes with deficient posterior capsules. J Cataract Refract Surg 2008;34:1433-8.  Back to cited text no. 1
    
2.
Chandrakanth P, Nallamuthu P. Anterior segment photography with intraocular lens. Indian J Ophthalmol 2019;67:1690-1.  Back to cited text no. 2
  [Full text]  
3.
Pujari A, Mukhija R, Chawla R, Phuljhele S, Saxena R, Sharma P. Smartphone-based evaluation of the optic nerve head. Indian J Ophthalmol 2018;66:1617-8.  Back to cited text no. 3
[PUBMED]  [Full text]  
4.
Larson T. Micro Phone Lens 150x: Cell Phone Based Microscope by Thomas Larson — Kickstarter [Internet]. Available from: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/968523355/micro-phone-lens-150x-cell-phone-based-microscope. [Last cited on 2019 May 22].  Back to cited text no. 4
    
5.
Cybulski JS, Clements J, Prakash M. Foldscope: Origami-based paper microscope. PLoS One 2014;9:e98781.  Back to cited text no. 5
    
6.
Ephraim RK, Duah E, Cybulski JS, Prakash M, D'Ambrosio MV, Fletcher DA, et al. Diagnosis of schistosoma haematobium infection with a mobile phone-mounted foldscope and a reversed-lens CellScope in Ghana. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2015;92:1253-6.  Back to cited text no. 6
    
7.
Akkara JD. Commentary: Dawn of smartphones in frugal ophthalmic innovation. Indian J Ophthalmol 2018;66:1619.  Back to cited text no. 7
[PUBMED]  [Full text]  
8.
Akkara J, Kuriakose A. How-to guide for smartphone slit-lamp imaging. Kerala J Ophthalmol 2019;31:64-71.  Back to cited text no. 8
  [Full text]  
9.
Raju B, Raju NS, Akkara JD, Pathengay A. Do it yourself smartphone fundus camera-DIYretCAM. Indian J Ophthalmol 2016;64:663-7.  Back to cited text no. 9
[PUBMED]  [Full text]  
10.
Chandrakanth P, Ravichandran R, Nischal N, Subhashini M. Trash to treasure Retcam. Indian J Ophthalmol 2019;67:541-4.  Back to cited text no. 10
[PUBMED]  [Full text]  




 

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