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. 2022 Aug;70(8):3112-3115.
doi: 10.4103/ijo.IJO_221_22.

The Gimbalscope - A novel smartphone-assisted retinoscopy technique

Prithvi Chandrakanth  1 , Hirika Gosalia  2 , Shishir Verghese  1 , Kalpana Narendran  2 , Venkatapathy Narendran  1
Affiliations

The Gimbalscope - A novel smartphone-assisted retinoscopy technique

Prithvi Chandrakanth et al. Indian J Ophthalmol. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

The authors describe a novel technique of performing retinoscopy assisted with a smartphone (gimbalscope). We found this technique of digital retinoscopy to be useful for demonstrating and documenting retinoscopic reflexes and in addition as an easy teaching tool. This technical report explains the assembly of our smartphone-assisted retinoscope and provides examples of the range of normal and abnormal reflexes that can be captured.

Keywords: Innovation; retinoscopy; smartphone; streak retinoscope.

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Conflict of interest statement

None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Materials required to prepare the gimbalscope: (i) smartphone, (ii) metal smartphone mount holder bracket clamp, (iii) retinoscope, (iv) smartphone holder clamps, (v) superglue, and (vi) rubberbands; (b) Diagrammatic representation of smartphone-assisted retinoscopy
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Smartphone holder clamps attached together using super glue and rubber bands; (b) A smartphone is attached to one of the holder clamps; (c) A metal smartphone mount holder (with the clamp removed) is passed through the battery hand piece of the retinoscope; (d) The clamp with the smartphone attached to it is connected onto the smartphone mount holder which is secured to the retinoscope battery hand piece using the available screw; (e) The smartphone camera is then aligned to the eyepiece of the retinoscope, and the whole setup is reinforced (gimbalscope); (f) Front view of the gimbalscope; (g) retinoscope light streak clearly captured on the smartphone camera; (h) Gimbalscope in use by an optometrist at a distance of 1.5 meters with the neutralization reflex clearly captured on the smartphone camera
Figure 3
Figure 3
Smartphone-assisted retinoscopy on patient eyes with diagrammatic representations (inset images): (a) Retinoscopic reflex at the point of neutralization; (b and c) “With motion” retinoscopic reflex; (d) Retinoscopic reflex revealing media opacity because of cataract; (e and f) “Against the motion” retinoscopic reflex
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