Interview: Douglas Anderson, founder of Optos

Optos was founded in the 1990s on the principle that capturing an ultra-widefield image of the retina is clinically crucial for identifying and monitoring eye and other systemic diseases.

A quarter of a century later, the Scottish firm has sold 11,500 systems for use on 70 million patients.

However, founder Douglas Anderson entered the profession with no prior optical or academic connections with the profession.

A product development expert within healthcare, what he did understand was the need for better equipment to scan the full width of the retina.

His five-year-old son Leif, born with high myopia, had lost sight in his right eye following the late diagnosis of a retinal detachment – prompting a huge programme of development and the creation of Optos.