Eye doctors make use of advanced imaging techniques to assess the health of the cornea and retina in the eye. For example, high resolution images can be used to check how successful corneal transplantation surgery has been, or if the retina is showing early signs of type 2 diabetes. Detailed analysis of these images can take a lot of time, which is impractical in standard clinical practice given the urgency there can be with diagnosing a disease like diabetes. For his PhD research, Friso Heslinga worked together with hospitals in the Netherlands and Denmark to obtain eye images from patients with various eye problems. Using deep learning, Friso built computer models that can do automatic analysis and support eye doctors in providing proper patient treatment.
The cornea of the eye, which is found at the front of the eye, is transparent to light. The light passes through the cornea, and is then focused by the lens onto the retina where it interacts with photoreceptor cells to generate signals for the brain to process.
This cornea transparency is also used by ophthalmologists (or eye doctors) to look into the eye using several medical techniques. For example, special microscopes can image the tiny cells of the cornea, laser-based techniques are used to scan different layers of the eye, and using a simple extension tool for a camera, ‘normal’ photos of the retina can also be obtained.