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. 2025 Nov 11:18:553-564.
doi: 10.2147/MDER.S550130. eCollection 2025.

The Comparison Between Arclight Loupe and Handheld Slit Lamp in Anterior Segment Eye Disease Diagnosis

Immaculate Atukunda #  1   2 , Rebecca Claire Lusobya #  1 , Andrew Weil Semulimi  3 , John Mukisa  4 , Abubakar Kalinaki  1 , Caroline Nalukenge  1 , Pamela Okwir Apio  5 , Denis Erima  6 , Charles Batte  3 , David Mukunya  7 , Juliet Otiti-Sengeri  1 , Obaid Kousha  2 , Andrew Blaikie  2
Affiliations

The Comparison Between Arclight Loupe and Handheld Slit Lamp in Anterior Segment Eye Disease Diagnosis

Immaculate Atukunda et al. Med Devices (Auckl). .

Abstract

Introduction: Early diagnosis of eye diseases improves outcomes and reduces blindness. However, diagnostic capacity in resource-poor settings is limited by a shortage of trained and equipped healthcare professionals. The Arclight device is a user-friendly, cost-effective diagnostic tool for both anterior and posterior segment eye diseases that requires minimal training. Studies have shown it to be effective for assessing the fundal reflex and performing fundoscopy; however, its accuracy and acceptability for anterior segment eye disease are still unknown.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out at Mulago National Super Specialised Hospital, where 21 ophthalmic clinical officers (OCOs) were recruited from surrounding districts. Each participant evaluated eleven patients with anterior segment pathologies and one normal case using the Arclight loupe and a handheld Slit Lamp. The diagnosis and the proportion of correctly identified conditions were recorded. Focus group discussions were held to assess the acceptability of using the devices. Discussions were transcribed verbatim and analysed using latent and manifest content analysis.

Results: Of the 21 participants, 13 (61.9%) were female, with a median age of 39 (IQR: 33-49), and had practiced for 6 to 10 years, representing 76.2%. The majority of conditions were correctly identified by both the Arclight (71.2%) and handheld slit lamp (72.3%). Pterygium was the most accurately diagnosed condition (100%) with the Arclight. Based on themes from Sekhon's framework and the Technology Acceptance Model, the Arclight device was found to be highly acceptable and easy for OCOs to use.

Conclusion: The performance of the OCOs in diagnosing anterior segment diseases with the Arclight is comparable to that of a handheld Slit lamp. It was also found to be an acceptable device for diagnostic purposes. In conclusion, the Arclight device is a suitable, low-cost alternative to the handheld Slit Lamp, especially in resource-limited settings.

Keywords: blindness; diagnostic accuracy; low-cost medical devices; portable ophthalmic devices; technology acceptance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Andrew Blaikie is employed by the University of St Andrews, where Arclight has been commercialized under a subsidiary company within the University. He does not, however, have any direct financial gain from sales. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The percentage of OCOs who got the correct diagnoses using Arclight device versus hand-held slit lamp.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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