Eye Doctors Worry About New Apps & Ocular Telemedicine

HARTFORD, CT—Technology is great when it comes to the practice of medicine, but a group of eye doctors is warning that new phone and online applications can’t deliver on their promise to examine the eye.

The technology does what’s called a refraction, which can determine if you’re near-sighted or farsighted and produce an eyeglass or contact lens prescription, according to Dr. Brian Lynch, the legislative chairman of the Connecticut Association of Optometrists.

Lynch, who has been practicing for 35 years, said doing an eye exam requires much more than a refraction.

“Assessing the health of a patient’s eye means examining the blood vessels, and checking for ocular diseases, which can’t be done without a face-to-face encounter,” Lynch said.

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