TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 USF Health ophthalmologists in Tampa are testing an at-home glaucoma screening tool that uses artificial intelligence, a cellphone, a VR headset and a handheld clicker to help patients monitor their vision outside the doctor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
The technology is still in its testing phase and is patent-pending. Doctors said the goal is to replicate a glaucoma test that can cost $30,000 in a medical office with a $42 at-home alternative.<\/p>\n
Glaucoma affects the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain, and can lead to blindness. Health experts say many people can go years without being diagnosed.<\/p>\n
Jeffrey Reuter said a routine checkup in 2023 led to a diagnosis he was not expecting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t notice the pressure in my eye. It\u2019s something you can\u2019t feel,\u201d Reuter said. \u201cI didn\u2019t notice any problems with my peripheral vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reuter says he was nearsighted and has had eye issues in the past.<\/p>\n
Since his diagnosis, Reuter has used eye drops every day and has routine eye exams to see how the treatment is affecting his vision.<\/p>\n
He said the appointments changed his day-to-day life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just very time-consuming, taking off of work,\u201d Reuter said. \u201cThere\u2019s money involved, and it\u2019s just something you have to deal with, something I have to deal with if I want to continue to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. Ramesh Ayyala, an ophthalmologist at USF Health, is behind the technology.<\/p>\n
He said the AI-powered app is designed to allow patients to perform visual field testing at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you keep doing this test, the algorithms and AI tools are going to analyze it for you,\u201d Ayyala said.<\/p>\n
Ayyala said the tool could help get people diagnosed earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to tell you, do you have the disease or not, first of all,\u201d Ayyala said. \u201cDo you have a disease that triggers you to go to the doctors for the checkup, and if you do have the disease, is it stable?\u201d<\/p>\n
Reuter is one of 60 patients using the technology so far. He said it has been a game changer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more people that he\u2019s able to help with this, the more people\u2019s vision that can be saved,\u201d Reuter said.<\/p>\n
Doctors at USF Health said once the technology is FDA-approved, they hope to introduce it to other countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 USF Health ophthalmologists in Tampa are testing an at-home glaucoma screening tool that uses artificial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3948,6466,571,6075,6076,115,139,135,137,136,835],"class_list":["post-337223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-health","tag-app-latest-health-stories","tag-health","tag-health-and-medicine","tag-lizbeth-gutierrez","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}