A new technique, developed by scientists at ARC Vision Centre and Australian National University (ANU), can quantify damage caused by serious eye diseases.

Called multifocal pupillography, the method involves monitoring minute responses of the eye's pupil to light signals in different parts of the patient's visual field.

ARC Vision Centre and Australian National University (ANU) researchers led by Ted Maddess and Andrew James are pioneering this area of study for painless detection and monitoring of glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy.

The technique relies on a feedback loop of nerve signals, which flow from each eye to the brain and back again to both pupils of the eyes by a secondary pathway, Maddess explains.

In our research we have been trying to localise the responses of the pupil to particular places across the visual field and hence, the eye's retina, said Maddes.

Posted in: Diabetic retinopathy, Eye Disorders, Health, Macular Degeneration, Retina