How COVID-19 is changing the future of eye care

The rapid uptake of telehealth services to stop the spread of coronavirus is adding impetus to research to develop innovative new ways of diagnosing and monitoring patients with eye disease. As the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred Australia's health care practitioners to replace many routine face-to-face appointments with phone or video consultations – telehealth has moved into the mainstream. CERA researchers are leading major projects to develop innovative new diagnostic tools that can be used in the home or outside of traditional eye clinic settings. They predict the shift to telehealth services will continue to gather pace after the COVID-19 pandemic has ended. CERA Deputy Director Associate Professor Peter van Wijngaarden is leading research to develop a simple eye test to detect the early signs Alzheimer's disease.