Retinal Scanning is Changing Healthcare

Your optometrist can tell you if you're at risk for cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, or diabetes. And it's all thanks to James Bond-style retinal scanners.

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[ItchyCinderBlock]

My optometrist caught my buddy’s leukemia during an eye exam. They caught it fairly early, probably saved his life.

[raypedia]

Almost 3x as many people see an optometrist than see a primary care physician. Moving useful diagnostics to places where more people can benefit is a net positive for everyone's health prospects.

[gigaherz_]

My mother works at a glasses shop. While she's not an optometrist herself, they do have an optometry service in the shop. One day a client went to get his eyes checked, and after sending the images to the laboratory, he browsed for glasses for a few minutes and left. Just after he was out the door, they got a call. Paraphrasing: "Is the client out yet? This is urgent, if you can still get to him, tell him he's having a heart attack and he needs to get himself to a hospital immediately, or call an ambulance."
They did reach him, and he was surprised, but he did get to a hospital on time. A few days later he went by the shop to thank them, because thanks to the early warning he was at the hospital when the worst of it happened, instead of in the middle of nowhere driving, and he probably lived thanks to that call.
[edit: typo]

[raecoffey]

I’m an optician and we’ve had patients come in seemingly fine and then referred out for emergency procedures due to the retinal screening machines. A lot of these patients had retinal tears, macular issues, or cancers that wouldn’t have been noticed UNLESS they got the photos done because dilating can only give the doctor so much of a view to the eye. Soooo next time you go take the photos if you’re able to.

[Acceleronics]

I was the System Engineer for the Zeiss Clarus 500 retina (fundus) camera. It is an interesting engineering challenge to get enough light INTO the eye through the pupil to illuminate the retina, and not have that light screw up the light reflected off the retina. It is the reflected light that generates the image. That reflected light has to come OUT of the eye through the same pupil. The second tricky bit is trying to see a full hemisphere inside the eye when your only way in is through the fairly small pupil.

[FlyntofRWBY]

I’m an Optician. It happens more often than you’d think that somebody comes in and refuses to pay the $39 for the imaging, but I manage to convince them and we end up finding something. I once had a “healthy” patient come in that I convinced to get the imagining. Turned out he is diabetic. He didn’t know cause he hadn’t seen a primary care doctor in 6 years, yet we saw the beginnings of diabetic retinopathy.

[KishoreShenoy]

My third ventricular brain tumour was diagnosed with an eye check.
The optican saw there was lots of pressure on my nerves and told me to go to the hospital.

A day later, at the hospital, I got the diagnosis of brain tumour.
Half a year later, and after quite a few surgeries, I got the clear and the name of the tumour (Benign Eptheliod haemangioendothelioma)
The surgeons can't remove the tumour due to being deep inside my brain, but I get regular checks

[justice_was_taken]

Next big conspiracy gonna be " They shined a laser in my eyes and now I'm diabetic "

[AdelineDavis]

We just need insurance companies to cover this. My eye doctor has one of these machines, but I have to pay extra out of pocket to not have my eyes dilated. I would love it if more people have access to these technologies, having a record of eye health is extremely important.

[veronicaingram]

This is another reason that it is ridiculous that US healthcare insurance doesn't have to cover

[petuniasevan]

Husband and I get tested by the optometrist yearly. We always get the retinal scan as we both have diabetes. This optometrist has been seeing us for 20 years and knows his stuff: he correctly diagnosed me with recurrent corneal erosion (look it up you don't want it) and husband gets checked for evidence of macular degeneration since his mother has that condition. It's amazing what an eye doctor can find and what conditions can be monitored by a retinal scan. It's worth it, folks. Even if your pathetic medical insurance company won't cover it. I think I paid $49.00 for each of us last time.

[antirealist]

This is eerily timely for me — I had my first optometrist exam the other day and the office used this Nikon retinal imaging machine and I got to see my own optic nerve for the first time.

[MermaidMakes]

Im a T1 diabetic and its because of retinal scanning that they finally find the cause of my blind spots. They aren't due to diabetic retinopathy, but were caused by an occular stroke i had which flew under the radar. Im so grateful about how far we've come, especially with T1 diabetic care. Now, if only it were made accessible for every single American.

[jamesharmer]

My father went to see his optician about 25 years ago. He was told, " Go and see your doctor, NOW! ". He was then diagnosed with type II diabetes. He's in his eighties now and still going strong. Probably wouldn't be the case if it hadn't been caught.

[marinkasajima]

Not an optometrist, but a MD student working at an eye hospital/clinic. Retinal imaging is at least half of what I find myself doing on a daily basis - the tech is incredible & always improving little by little! We love our retinal scanners (and our patients find them pretty "sci-fi" too!) Super psyched to see it represented in a SciShow video!

[y_fam_goeglyd]

My mother's optician discovered that she'd had a minor stroke. It didn't prevent her major stroke later on, but her doctor and the hospital were able to diagnose it quicker.

I'm going to have a diabetic eye test tomorrow. I get one every year. Between the last one and tomorrow, I had a typical eye test (because Mum had glaucoma, my sisters and I are given a free eye test every year), and the optician discovered the beginnings of cataracts. I've got about 4 years before I lose my sight, but because it's been discovered, I'll be on the operation list sooner rather than later.

I have a lot of time for opticians. They know more about our general health than most people would ever imagine.

[InvaderCom]

So what I'm hearing is yet more reasons for eye care to be a part of standard health insurance. In this incredibly visual world and society we live in, it is still both baffling and infuriating that eye care is so hard to get coverage for.

[tagbon]

Learning about how retinal scanning might improve society's health overall gave me ... a Small Measurable Amount of Solace

[itchywitch]

My optometrist said I have beautiful retinas and I’ve never been so flattered. 😊

[Rainears]

My first optometrist had the machine that takes pictures of the retina. It is so nice, because while it also requires drops put in the eye, those drops don't dilate the eye, just make them sticky so you can't blink as fast, and go away in a couple of hours at most. My doctor also will show me my pics and explain what he's looking for and seeing, which is nice, especially since my family has a history of diabetes.