Your optometrist could soon be your first line of defense against dementia.
Data scientists and clinical researchers are working with opticians to develop a digital tool capable of detecting the early signs of neurodegenerative disease — just by scanning your eyes.
“The eye can tell us far more than we thought possible,” said Baljean Dhillon, professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of Edinburgh and co-lead of the project.
Scotland’s eye-opening research
The NeurEye research team, led by the University of Edinburgh and Glasgow Caledonian University, has already collected nearly a million eye scans from opticians across Scotland, making it the largest dataset of its kind.
Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, they plan to analyze the images for patterns that could indicate a person’s risk of developing dementia, while also offering a broad picture of their overall brain health.
“The blood vessels and neural pathways of the retina and brain are intimately related. But, unlike the brain, we can see the retina with the simple, inexpensive equipment found in every high street in the UK and beyond,” said Dhillon.
A growing problem
In 2024, an estimated 6.9 million Americans aged 65 and older were living with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. As the population continues to age, that number is only expected to grow.
The NeurEye team is optimistic that AI-powered eye scans will one day enable optometrists to identify early signs of dementia during routine exams.
The software could lead to earlier diagnoses, providing patients and their families with a critical head start in managing the memory-robbing disease. It could also potentially be used as a way to monitor cognitive decline, experts say.
Researchers are hopeful that identifying people at risk of dementia could also accelerate the development of new treatments by helping scientists pinpoint patients who are most likely to benefit from clinical trials and better monitor their responses.
At a personal level, being aware of one’s dementia risk could inspire some people to make lifestyle changes that may help delay or reduce their likelihood of developing the disease, according to the Lancet Commission, which added vision loss to its list of dementia risk factors last year.
The American Optometric Association currently recommends that healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 64 undergo a comprehensive eye exam every two years, while those over 65 should have an exam annually.
One family’s heartbreaking journey
David Steele, a retired mechanical engineer from Scotland, knows firsthand the toll of a late diagnosis.
His mother had been visiting the optometrist regularly as her vision worsened. Initially diagnosed with macular degeneration, it wasn’t until later that doctors realized the real cause was cerebral blindness linked to Alzheimer’s.
In an interview with BBC Scotland News, Steele shared how an earlier diagnosis could have given his family much-needed time to prepare for his mother’s cognitive decline before it became too severe.
“You might not want to know the message, but you do really need to know,” he said. “Anything that can be put in place early is really, really important because you’ve got to prepare for the moment it no longer becomes easy to manage life.”
