“Many devices in one” with the Zeiss Atlas 500

Launched at 100% Optical 2024, the Zeiss Atlas 500 is an instrument that combines many devices in one.

Claire Martin, head of strategy and marketing for ophthalmic diagnostics at Carl Zeiss Meditec, explained: “The Atlas 500 is a very exciting instrument because it’s not just a corneal topographer. It can do a complete dry eye assessment and you can see everything on the screen as you are looking at it.”

Zachary Tomlinson, clinical application specialist for Zeiss Medical Technology, gave OT a tour of the key features of the device, providing a demonstration with Martin, who experiences dry eye.

“The Zeiss Atlas 500 is many devices in one,” Tomlinson said. “The first thing we can do is corneal topography, which allows us to track and screen for keratoconus.”

“One thing that is really handy and useful with this device is that it tells us exactly what we need to do when we’re capturing it,” he added.

Practitioners can then move onto the imaging and video feature, before looking at the tear meniscus.

Tomlinson then moved on to assessing the meibomian glands, and the pupillometry feature.

Observing how the pupils react, he said: “We can do static imaging or dynamic and see exactly how wide it goes, so we can customise the contact lens fitting for the patient.”

Finally, the tear film break-up time function enables the practitioner to see how the tear film evaporates.

Once all images have been captured, it is easy to create a dry eye report and analyse the information, Tomlinson said.

He explained: “So the next time the patient comes, after we’ve treated them for dry eyes, or they are using a continuous treatment with drops, we can repeat the dry eye report and see if it has improved, if the treatment is targeted enough, or if we need to change strategies.”

Reflecting on the uses for the device, Martin shared: “I think most practices, as well as having a corneal topographer, will love the dry eye assessment that it can do.”