17008 - Optyse™ Lens-Free Pocket-Sized Ophthalmoscope

The Optyse™ Lens-Free Pocket-Sized Ophthalmoscope is a new, very compact ophthalmoscope that is ideal for rapid and accurate central fundus evaluation. It is very simple to use with no lenses or filter wheels. Due to its portability and affordability, it offers eye care professionals, physicians (especially primary care, pediatric, and geriatric physicians), nurses, midwives (for infant eye examination) and even medical and healthcare students a rapid, easy to use, method to screen for many medical conditions that an eye exam can reveal.

The Optyse Ophthalmoscope is excellent for diagnosing and monitoring many potentially serious eyesight and medical conditions using fundoscopy an exam of the back of the eye. These conditions can include cataracts, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, hypertension, diabetes, brain tumors, infections, cerebral malaria, and Alzheimer's. Compared to older, larger ophthalmoscopes, Optyse is easier to carry, easier to use, and less complex.

To initiate an exam, the professional needs to simply switch on the illumination, and hold the ophthalmoscope up to the patient's eye. The lens-free ophthalmoscope uses the patients own cornea and lens to focus the light and provide a clear, excellent, magnified view of the back of the eye. The Optyse Ophthalmoscope provides particularly good views of the optic disk and macula. As a direct ophthalmoscope, it produces a magnified image with a fairly narrow field of view.

Field trials have shown that the view of retina with this compact ophthalmoscope is comparable to that of other much larger, more expensive ophthalmoscopes with lenses, costing many times more. The instrument is small and affordable so that all medical professionals can carry it all the time making it an ideal tool for routine screening. The low cost and robust simplicity makes it also ideal for use in developing countries for routine eye and general health screenings.

Optyse works well for practitioners and patients with and without their own eyeglasses for low correction and those who wear glasses for any reason other than reading or more extensive correction should simply keep them on during the examination.

The Optyse Ophthalmoscope comes in a slip-in case and uses two standard AAA batteries. It contains a miniature 2.5 volt lamp which, as with any standard direct ophthalmoscope, should last for years (replacements are easily available, easy to obtain and replace). In developing countries, it is particularly good for the diagnosis of cerebral malaria because the retinal changes that can be observed with the ophthalmoscope are unique to malaria. Also, it is good for the observation of increase intracranial pressure through observation of papilloedema.