The BP-900 - Imaging goes mainstream

Bill Harvey tries out one of the latest additions to the Haag-Streit slit-lamp range

The slit lamp is as integral to the eye examination as the ophthalmoscope. Accurate assessment of the external and anterior ocular structures is a competency requirement for all entry-level optometrists and certainly all practitioners working in the contact lens arena.

Obviously, the slit-lamp biomicroscope is the essential instrument for this and the designs have changed little over recent years. Generally speaking, the more money you pay, the better the range of magnification, choice of filters and quality of the optics.

It was with interest that I noted the latest additions to the Haag-Streit range which recognises the increasing importance of photography and image capture in the consulting room. Until now, adding a capture system to a slit lamp has meant buying an adapter, a beam splitter and a host of peripherals.

The Haag-Streit BP-900 (Figure 1) is of interest in that it has an integrated beam splitter and, as such, is available ready for an image-capture system. With the increasing use of such systems and their usefulness in maintaining accurate and safe records, it was only a matter of time before slit-lamp design moved towards incorporating capture systems as the norm and the BP-900 represents this first step.