Many patients do not have eye tests in a timely fashion to help track degeneration in their eyesight due to age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.  In addition, the 1940’s eye test still used in the doctor’s office often does not detect the incremental changes in vision that can occur with these conditions.

A clever solution has been developed in the form of iphone app myVisionTrack, which is twice as sensitive as the old eye chart, gives results in less than 90 seconds, and can be done at any time on the iPhone.

The test uses a “shape discrimination” exercise, where three circles are shown on the screen.  Patients cover one eye and touch the circle they perceive to be oddly shaped.  This brings up 3 more circles with more subtle differences, and so on.  The exercise is then repeated with the other eye. The app stores the results each time, and if there is a significant change in vision over time, the patient gets a message to see the doctor.

myVisionTrack was produced by Vital Art and Science Inc., a Richardson, Texas-based biotech firm that is the brain-child of  professors at UT Southwestern, UT Dallas and current and former employees of Texas Instruments.

To read a press release on myVisionTrack, click here ^[1].

Risa Schulman, PhD
Expert, Healthy Food and Dietary Supplement Science, Marketing and Regulatory
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