Glaucoma is such an ailment of eyes that ends in blindness. Curing the ailment becomes difficult as it shows no early symptoms. In order to keep at bay such challenging ailments, it is better and safer to go through regular examinations of eyes. This can help in an early detection as well as treatment if an ailment exists. Detecting severe eye diseases could become easier in Singapore when the leading manufacturer of ophthalmic equipment, Topcon Corporation of Tokyo and A*STAR’s I2R collaborate. The ATLANTIA joint laboratory that situates itself in the premises of I2R in Fusionopolis, would develop such technologies as can detect the severe eye conditions as glaucoma, AMD, and myopia.
Studies have been carried out in Singapore and these studies highlight the extent to which these diseases and disorders. Six percent of population in Singapore suffers from Glaucoma and forty percent of total blindness in the population is reported from this disease. Singapore has a large population suffering from myopia. Most of those that are aged develop signs of AMD in Singapore.
These are some of the most common ailments of eyes that lead to vision impairment if not treated in time. Using more effective ophthalmic equipment aids in early detection of the problems such that the treatment begins earlier. This would not just reduce the suffering and pain of the patients, but would also save an otherwise impending loss of vision.
Depending on the capabilities and the expertise of the Ocular Imaging Program of I2R and the Topcon Corporation, automated and more improved ophthalmic equipment shall be developed by joint laboratory. The instruments so developed shall aid in more accurate reports and results and help in fast detection of eye illnesses and diseases. These technologies should help to process automatically and analyze the eye images. The diseases can thus be detected accurately.
The collaboration between the organizations shall allow screening of AMD, myopia, and glaucoma in future through routine checking of eyes at the optical shops and hospitals. The Instruments for eye screening shall have the technologies embedded in them. A management system, which is cloud-based, shall also be developed in joint laboratory so as to offer a better and widespread access to the patients, opticians, and the doctors. Topcon’s Swept Source OCT shall be used by joint laboratory so as to enable the oculists to view the cross section of the eye while determining the causes behind the disease.
The vast experience of the Ocular Imaging Program by I2R shall also be used by joint laboratory along with the expertise of the former in inter-disciplinary researches that are eye related making use of advanced ophthalmic equipment. Higher and more advanced technologies are used in diagnosing and screening major diseases of eyes. Detection during the early stage and the diagnosis of these challenging ocular ailments as AMD, myopia, and glaucoma, reduces not just the chances of future vision impairment but also reduces the eye care costs considerably. The advanced technology that is embedded in the newly developed instruments promises to reduce the number of people suffering from ocular ailments or vision impairment.
Author Bio
Tony Rollan is working with VSI company and he is an author of many articles on all types of optical and ophthalmic equipment. Author talks about the ophthalmic equipment and ophthalmology in particular.