Terminator 3: The Rise of Machines, and long term effects

[jymezg]

K so I pulled this interesting set of comments from a different thread that kept getting off topic.

1) What are your thoughts about these autorefractors getting put in Walmarts?

2) What long term epidemiological effects could we start seeing if these really take off. (Specifically diabetic retinopathy and cataracts, just a personal interest)

3) Lastly what, if anything, can we do to GET PEOPLE BACK IN THE CLINIC INSTEAD OF WALLY WORLD?

couldnt technology do the same thing for od's? Couldnt someone just go into walmart sit down and have a machine refract your eye automatically then spit out a result or measurements? Couldnt you sit down and pick 1 or 2 by hitting a button rather than a od saying 1 or 2?

we have machines that can do this (autorefractors), but unfortunately not all losses of vision are due to refractive error. Also, it's up for debate how accurate the machines are, especially for patients with higher refractive errors. You need to start looking at the eye from the cornea back to the retina to find the reason why the vision seems blurry. Autorefractors also don't consider the binocular status of the eyes...if someone has convergence insufficiency and gets headaches when they read, an autorefractor's not going to be able to sort that out for them...especially if they're far sighted!

sadly enough, one of our professors told us that walmart is starting to put these silly machines in their stores. Sit down, read some letters and it'll either spit out a "20/20, you do not need an eye exam!" or "you should see an optometrist!"

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