Eyelid illumination systems and method for imaging meibomian glands for meibomian gland analysis
First Claim
1. A method of trans-illuminating a meibomian gland in an eyelid of a patient to image the meibomian gland, comprising:
- flipping the eyelid to expose an interior portion of an interior surface of the eyelid to an imaging path of an imaging device, wherein the flipping of the eyelid is done using a lid flipping device comprising a body and a curved lid flipping end surface disposed on an end of the body, wherein the curved lid flipping end surface is anatomically shaped to contain a radius that is intended to mimic a curvature of the patient'"'"'s eyelid, so that the curved lid flipping end surface will contact and grasp an exterior surface of the patient'"'"'s eyelid equally along the exterior surface;
directing an infrared (IR) light from an IR light source to an exterior portion of the eyelid to IR trans-illuminate meibomian glands in the eyelid;
imaging the eyelid with the imaging device during IR trans-illumination to produce an IR trans-illumination image of meibomian glands in the eyelid, wherein the imaging of the eyelid with the imaging device during IR trans-illumination is performed while the eyelid is flipped;
receiving the IR trans-illumination image of the eyelid at a computer control system associated with the imaging device;
storing the IR trans-illumination image in a non-transitory memory associated with the imaging device;
directing a second IR light from a second IR light source to the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid to surface illuminate the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid;
imaging the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid with the imaging device when the interior portion is illuminated with the second IR light to produce a surface meibography image of meibomian glands in the eyelid, wherein the imaging of the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid to produce the surface meibography image is performed while the eyelid is flipped; and
subtracting the IR trans-illumination image of meibomian glands from the surface meibography image of meibomian glands to generate a resultant image of meibomian glands.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Eyelid illumination systems and methods for imaging meibomian glands for meibomian gland analysis are disclosed. In one embodiment, a patient'"'"'s eyelid is IR trans-illuminated with an infrared (IR) light. A trans-illumination image of the patient'"'"'s eyelid is captured showing meibomian glands in dark outlined areas, whereas non-gland material is shown in light areas. This provides a high contrast image of the meibomian glands that is X-ray like. The lid trans-illumination image of the meibomian glands can be analyzed to determine to diagnose the meibomian glands in the patient'"'"'s eyelid. The eyelid may be trans-illuminated by a lid-flipping device configured to grasp and flip the eyelid for imaging the interior surface of the eyelid. Also, an IR surface meibography image of the meibomian glands may also be captured and combined with the trans-illumination image of the meibomian glands to provide a higher contrast image of the meibomian glands.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of trans-illuminating a meibomian gland in an eyelid of a patient to image the meibomian gland, comprising:
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flipping the eyelid to expose an interior portion of an interior surface of the eyelid to an imaging path of an imaging device, wherein the flipping of the eyelid is done using a lid flipping device comprising a body and a curved lid flipping end surface disposed on an end of the body, wherein the curved lid flipping end surface is anatomically shaped to contain a radius that is intended to mimic a curvature of the patient'"'"'s eyelid, so that the curved lid flipping end surface will contact and grasp an exterior surface of the patient'"'"'s eyelid equally along the exterior surface; directing an infrared (IR) light from an IR light source to an exterior portion of the eyelid to IR trans-illuminate meibomian glands in the eyelid; imaging the eyelid with the imaging device during IR trans-illumination to produce an IR trans-illumination image of meibomian glands in the eyelid, wherein the imaging of the eyelid with the imaging device during IR trans-illumination is performed while the eyelid is flipped; receiving the IR trans-illumination image of the eyelid at a computer control system associated with the imaging device; storing the IR trans-illumination image in a non-transitory memory associated with the imaging device; directing a second IR light from a second IR light source to the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid to surface illuminate the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid; imaging the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid with the imaging device when the interior portion is illuminated with the second IR light to produce a surface meibography image of meibomian glands in the eyelid, wherein the imaging of the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid to produce the surface meibography image is performed while the eyelid is flipped; and subtracting the IR trans-illumination image of meibomian glands from the surface meibography image of meibomian glands to generate a resultant image of meibomian glands. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A meibomian gland imaging system for lid trans-illumination imaging of meibomian glands in an eyelid of a patient, comprising:
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an infrared (IR) light source configured to direct an IR light to an exterior portion of the eyelid to IR trans-illuminate the meibomian glands in the eyelid; a second IR light source configured to direct a second IR light to an interior portion of an interior surface of the eyelid; an imaging device configured to image the eyelid during IR trans-illumination; a lid flipping device comprising a body and a curved lid flipping end surface disposed on an end of the body, the curved lid flipping end surface configured to grasp and flip the eyelid to expose the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid to an imaging path of the imaging device, wherein the curved lid flipping end surface is anatomically shaped to contain a radius that is intended to mimic a curvature of the patient'"'"'s eyelid, so that the curved lid flipping end surface will contact and grasp an exterior surface of the patient'"'"'s eyelid equally along the exterior surface; and a computer control system configured to; control the IR light source to direct the IR light to the exterior portion of the eyelid to IR trans-illuminate the meibomian glands in the eyelid; control the imaging device to capture an image of the eyelid during IR trans-illumination, wherein the image of the eyelid is captured by the imaging device during IR trans-illumination while the eyelid is flipped; receive the image of the eyelid; store an IR trans-illumination image of meibomian glands in the eyelid from the received image of the eyelid in a non-transitory memory; control the second IR light source to direct the second IR light to the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid to surface illuminate the interior surface of the eyelid, when not directing the IR light source to direct the IR light to the exterior portion of the eyelid; control the imaging device to image, in a surface meibography image of the eyelid, the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid when the second IR light source is directed to direct the second IR light to the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid, wherein the image of the interior portion of the interior surface of the eyelid in the surface meibography image is captured by the imaging device while the eyelid is flipped; receive the surface meibography image of the eyelid; store a surface meibography image of meibomian glands in the eyelid from the received surface meibography image of the eyelid; and subtract the IR trans-illumination image of meibomian glands from the surface meibography image of meibomian glands to generate a resultant image of meibomian glands. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification