Nidek VersaCam DS-20: Imaging on the move

There is a large proportion of the population of the UK who are, in essence, housebound and may find access to regular health services, such as an eye examination, problematic. As a large percentage of these are elderly, then they are at a much higher risk of most eye diseases normally screened for by routine eye examinations. For this reason, domiciliary eye care services are important and it is essential that such services provide as complete a range of assessments as might be expected in a community practice setting.

Two areas where there have been challenges designing a portable system of some equivalence to the practice-based instrument are visual field analysers and retinal cameras. Portable retinal cameras have existed for some time, and indeed we have reviewed many over the years, but often they have had to compromise in some area – usually either image quality or ease of use. I was keen then to try out the new Nidek VersaCam DS-20 (available from Birmingham Optical), a digital imaging system aimed at addressing both concerns.