The Volk Eye Check

At the time, we had just launched a specialist paediatric clinic at the London-based independent where I practise, City Eyes, and the Volk Eye Check proved beneficial almost immediately with our young patients. A year later, it has become essential for me on a day-to-day basis.

In the summer of 2015, I successfully completed the Behavioural Optometry certification and began to see patients in practice who required a full visual stress assessment. Alongside the paediatric clinic, we use the Volk Eye Check as part of the initial screening for every patient, providing quick analysis and detection of any abnormalities that may be present.

Initially I was unsure how the Volk Eye Check would benefit my patients in practice, but with the new paediatric clinic, scleral and ortho-k lens fitting, and referrals for pupil and eyelid anomalies, the list of benefits is extensive. As a result, the Volk Eye Check is now part of my clinical routine.

"We use the Volk Eye Check as part of the initial screening for every patient, providing quick analysis and detection of any abnormalities that may be present"

Putting it into practice

The Volk Eye Check is hand held and uses a touchscreen for data entry. The stickers used are disposable, and easy to re-order and stock. Staff training and software are included and in addition, if requested, the support team at IRISS Medical Technologies can log into the device’s network during staff training sessions so that feedback can be provided on the data obtained.

As soon as the patient arrives, their details are entered into the Volk Eye Check. The details required are a reference and age. We opt not to include the picture in the results due to patient confidentiality. As a reference, we use initials and date of birth. A small sticker, which the device uses as a reference point, is placed on the forehead of the patient, above the nose.

We provide a printed copy of the results to the patient – some like to send a copy to their GP – and a copy is automatically saved to our database and attached to the patient’s file.

Three-in-one

The tool comprises three modes – the eye check, contact lens and oculoplastics.

With the Eye Check mode, objective documentation of pupil size, strabismus amplitude, horizontal visible iris diameter (HVID), interpupillary distance, pupil eccentricity and light level are obtained. The patient focuses on the flashing illuminated fixation target as a series of photos are taken to obtain the results. The device is efficient and alerts are provided if the examiner is too close or too far from the patient whilst taking the diagnostic images. The results provided are instantaneously and automatically sent via Wi-Fi to the practice email address. There are 17 data recorded, including pupil size and size of strabismus if present.

The contact lens check mode is fantastic for our specialist lens fitting, such as scleral and ortho-k, and also as part of our routine contact lens fits.

The software contains a customised list of all the lenses that we use and supply. Once the device gathers the data, it provides a list of contact lenses that will be suitable for the patient based on the parameters assessed only.

Consideration of lifestyle, patient history and slit lamp examination still needs to be taken into account, but this data provides a great starting point for lens options.

For our ortho-k (the higher prescriptions especially) and scleral lenses, the measurement of HVID, pupils, lids and sagittal height has proved to be useful information to send to our lab for the design and production of the lenses.

The accurate measurements and digital documentation provided can also help reduce inter-clinician variability.

The oculoplastics mode provides fast and accurate pre- and post-op measurements for clinical and cosmetic lid surgeries. This additional information has been included in our patients’ referrals and GP reports

The Volk Eye Check has been a great addition to our clinic. This device has been designed by a team that understands patient diversity and how the measurements provided can be useful in day-to-day practice.