Eye exams on the smartphone

While there are tons of useless apps in the world out there like a virtual zipper or a watch that measures how long you can touch your phone with a finger, also some smart developments have been done in recent time.

Andrew Bastawrous has been working on apps dealing with diagnosis of eye diseases and I want to

introduce you to this idea. Now before one of you yells that's crap and should be left to a doctor, better keep on reading first. The app peek vision was not developed for the sole use at home without any professional supervision, no it was developed to improve health care in countries such as Kenya and other Sub-Saharan nations. Studies have shown that 80% of blind people in Africa could easily be treated and brought back to vision if resources allowed it. Another major reason is that more people in Africa have access to a smartphone than to clean water To know what surgery to perform one of course has to know the problem first, which requires a scan of the retina. Bringing bulky equipment to Africa requires a lot of money, people and effort, overall only checking the retina comes to 25.000 dollars. Andrew Bastawrous and his team developed a small adapter that is connected to a smartphone and only costs 5$ in production. In combination with the app and the adapter your phone is able to give you a scan of the retina and inner eye. The good thing about this is it only requires a single person and a smartphone, overall it comes to a cost of only 500$. The app also allows you to check the eyes reaction and to simulate what the world looks like for the patient, meaning how they sees it with their current vision. Furthermore the devices are linked with specialist all over the world, allowing them to send the diagnosis to doctors far away who then can start making plans for treatment. Once they are done they message either the patient or a local leader who is in touch with his people, to inform them about dates and details of their surgery. I think this is a great of modern technology and that this idea could change a lot. If you are interested in the topic here is the link of Bastawrous presenting the app: http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_bastawrous_get_your_next_eye_exam_on_a_smartphone#t-182806