On a few occasions I've missed cells in the AC despite looking specifically for it. And I'm not talking trace cell either. It seems like once someone shows it to me it magically appears, but prior to that was invisible. Any helpful hints?

On a few occasions I've missed cells in the AC despite looking specifically for it. And I'm not talking trace cell either. It seems like once someone shows it to me it magically appears, but prior to that was invisible. Any helpful hints?

1. High magnification on the slit lamp microscope. (on Haag-Streit, use 1.6x with regular eyepieces)
2. Small lamp beam aperture.
3. Lower room lighting.
4. High power on the transformer switch
5. Oblique beam path. Entry beam on opposite side of the pupil to the point where the beam strikes the iris surface.
6. Focus the light beam on the iris plane, then back up the joystick to focus on the AC in front of the pupil.
7. Look for the Tyndall effect created by the circulating cells

The ability to see rare AC cells is both a test of your acuity and the quality of your slit lamp microscope. This is one task where you can see that some microscope optics are superior to others (and it isn't necessarily always the expensive European ones. I had particularly fine optics for this purpose on an old Haag-style Topcon slit lamp.)

one of my colleagues once told me that looking for cell is like auscultating the abdomen. just like you have to auscultate the abdomen for a whole minute before you can say no bowel sounds, sometimes you have to look for many seconds to see trace cell. the above suggestions are great.

1. High magnification on the slit lamp microscope. (on Haag-Streit, use 1.6x with regular eyepieces)
2. Small lamp beam aperture.
3. Lower room lighting.
4. High power on the transformer switch
5. Oblique beam path. Entry beam on opposite side of the pupil to the point where the beam strikes the iris surface.
6. Focus the light beam on the iris plane, then back up the joystick to focus on the AC in front of the pupil.
7. Look for the Tyndall effect created by the circulating cells

The ability to see rare AC cells is both a test of your acuity and the quality of your slit lamp microscope. This is one task where you can see that some microscope optics are superior to others (and it isn't necessarily always the expensive European ones. I had particularly fine optics for this purpose on an old Haag-style Topcon slit lamp.)

Thanks so much!