Smartphone microscope in eye clinic to visualize fungus and Demodex

Abstract

Purpose: Ophthalmologists often need to use a compound microscope to see slides of corneal scrapings, Demodex blepharitis, histopathology, or tear ferning test for diagnostic purposes. While such a microscope may be available in tertiary care centers, most eye clinics do not have it due to cost, space required, and infrequent use. These tests are often not done or delayed till a tertiary referral is possible. We demonstrate an alternative method using smartphone and an inexpensive attachment. Materials and Methods: Using the smartphone microscope attachment, the authors were able to capture excellent photographs and videos of corneal scrapings, histopathology, and Demodex. Photographs of the same slides were taken with a standard compound microscope as well. Trypan blue dye was used for staining the corneal scraping specimens to make the fungal hyphae in it clearly visible. Results: Photographs and videos captured by the smartphone microscope were compared with those from a compound microscope and found to be of adequate quality. They were determined to be good enough for diagnostic use. Conclusions: We determined that smartphone microscope attachment can be a useful adjunctive diagnostic tool for eye clinics corneal scrapings, histopathology, and Demodex, perhaps even for more applications.