First, Let Me Take a Selfie…and Make a Diagnosis of Corneal Abrasion?

December 20, 2022

Written by John Korducki

Spoon Feed
A smartphone app was developed to provide cobalt blue lighting in selfie mode to diagnose corneal injuries. See images below!

Why does this matter?
Empowering patients and providers in resource- or time-limited settings to make diagnoses quickly and effectively can be simplified with bedside apps such as this one.

Drop a selfie on the EHR
The authors have created a smartphone application with the capability of providing a cobalt blue light in “selfie mode”, giving a patient the ability to make an image of a potential corneal injury (assuming prior administration of fluorescein staining) on their phone. The app also allows a provider to use “Cobalt Blue Light” mode to diagnose corneal abrasion, after fluorescein administration, without a Woods lamp. The sensitivity has not been tested against the gold standard of slit lamp evaluation and certainly needs further validation before it can be used widely in clinical settings. However, when used in the appropriate context, I can see something like this being a very handy and useful resource for telehealth visits and resource-limited settings to start appropriate treatment prior to engagement with a specialist.

Editor’s note: If you want to save the price of the app, I’d presume pulling up a picture of “cobalt blue” on your smartphone would be equally effective. ~ Nick Zelt

Source
Detecting corneal injury with a selfie. Acad Emerg Med. 2022 Nov;29(11):1403-1404. doi: 10.1111/acem.14577. Epub 2022 Aug 17.