The iPhone and iPad are revolutionizing medical care in so many ways. There are the obvious benefits of being able to remotely access patient histories (though somewhat constrained by HIPA laws) and diagnostic databases. But more importantly, the devices themselves are being modded, added to, to turn a smart phone into a much more sophisticated piece of medical equipment.

Anyone with glaucoma, or glaucoma in their family, is familiar with the process of having high resolution images taken of the back of their eye to detect changes in the eye’s fluid pressure. The device that takes that picture costs thousands of dollars, at a minimum. Now that has changed.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed two inexpensive adapters that enable a smartphone to capture high-quality images of the front and back of the eye. The adapters make it easy for anyone with minimal training to take a picture of the eye and share it securely with other health practitioners or store it in the patient’s electronic record.

The researchers see this technology as an opportunity to increase access to eye-care services as well as to improve the ability to advise on patient care remotely.

This is a fantastic development. [Via 9To5Mac]