Will the Snellen chart become a relic of the past when it comes to vision testing? PediaVision CEO David Melnik believes that his Spot device offers some distinct advantages, especially when testing vision in children. Most importantly, instead of being required to read and recite letters, patients simply look into the PediaVision Spot device as it takes some pictures. Based on those images, the device notifies if it detects potential vision problems.

According to the PediaVision website, Spot is powered by technology that quickly detects the following vision issues:

• Near-sightedness (myopia)
• Far-sightedness (hyperopia)
• Unequal refractive power (anisometropia)
• Blurred vision, eye structure problem (astigmatism)
• Pupil size deviations (anisocoria)
• Eye misalignment (strabismus)

How does it work? Patients sit down and look into the front of the device, focusing their vision on its blinking red, amber and blue lights. The device then takes a series of photos of the patients’ eyes using infrared light within no more than one second.

The device can wirelessly print and transfer data when needed. Data can also be easily stored and transferred to support various electronic records protocols. It’s also portable – its battery can power a full day of screening in one charge. And it’s light – about 2 1/2 pounds, making it comfortable to screen groups of any size.

Read more in this gizmag article ^[1] and on the PediaVision website ^[2].