Concept · EyeDx · tears in the eye exam
An eye exam that checks more than eyes.
Millions of people sit at a slit lamp or an autorefractor every year, many of them more often than they see a doctor. A few microliters of tears, collected without a needle during that same exam, carry markers for dry eye, inflammation and retinal risk. A crystal reader built into the instrument could read them before the patient has chosen new frames.
Why tears
The gentlest sample in medicine.
Tears are collected passively from the edge of the lower lid in seconds, with a strip thinner than a toothpick. They carry proteins from the eye's surface and from the blood. The challenge has always been the tiny volume: a few microliters. That is where a background-free crystal reporter earns its keep.
1 to 5 microliters
About a tenth of a raindrop. Enough for a multiplex crystal panel because there is no background to fight.
No needle, no lab
A capillary strip touches the lid margin during alignment at the instrument the patient is already sitting at.
Tear testing is real
Single-marker tear tests for dry eye are already used in eye clinics. EyeDx would measure a panel, as numbers, in the same visit.
Try it · the tear panel
Six markers, one tear strip.
Choose a patient to see how the panel would read. Bars are shown against each marker's decision level (the white line).
Illustration with invented values. Not clinical guidance and not a cleared test.
Is there evidence?
Tears do carry the diabetic signal.
A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis pooled 19 studies and 1,413 people: healthy volunteers, people with diabetes and no eye complications, and people with diabetic eye complications. TNF-α and VEGF in tear fluid were clearly higher in the complications group than in both other groups, and were the best of the markers studied at telling them apart. IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-8 were also examined. That is the basis for putting TNF-α and VEGF on the tear strip.
Tear-fluid-derived biomarkers of ocular complications in diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Polkamp M, Pham NHT, Wong WKM, Hardikar HP, Kunte PS, Cameron MA, Hardikar AA, Joglekar MV. Read the paper ↗
Screening, not diagnosis
The review supports tear markers as a non-invasive screen, especially where retinal specialists are scarce. A raised result would prompt a dilated eye exam, not replace it.
In the store, in the exam
Zero disruption for the optometrist.
The reader module is designed to sit on instruments already in every exam room, the slit lamp and the autorefractor, so screening happens during alignment. Nobody learns a new machine.
Beyond tears
One reader, a health hub in the store.
The same reader can take other cartridges, turning an eye-care location into a convenient place for everyday health screening.
Eye health
Dry eye, surface inflammation and retinal risk.
Hormones and infection
Small molecules by competitive assay, proteins by sandwich, on one cartridge.
Whole-body panels
Diabetes and inflammation, which also drive eye disease.
For eye-care retail
A reason to visit more than once every two years.
An eye-care chain already has the locations, the instruments, the trained staff and the trust. Tear screening adds a premium service to the visit, a reason to come back, and a natural path to dry-eye products and medical follow-up.
Answers in one visit
Is my dry eye inflammatory? Should I see a retina specialist? No extra appointment.
A premium service
Screening that fits the existing exam and staff.
Measured treatment
Dry-eye care tracked by numbers at the next visit.
A health hub
Saliva and finger-prick panels from the same reader.
Roadmap · future concepts
From the exam room to the frame.
After the in-store reader, the same detection layer could move into what people wear. These are long-range ideas, shown so partners can see where the platform could go.
Regulatory mapping
Calibration and concentration claims mapped to the FDA pathway for the in-store panel.
A sensor in the frame
A small optical module in a glasses frame for continuous readout. Concept.
Contact-lens sensing
Crystals embedded in a lens, read optically. The most distant idea on this page.
EyeDx is a concept in development with NovaVera and is not a cleared medical device.
Partners wanted
The eye exam, upgraded.
We are looking for eye-care retail, optometry and ophthalmic-instrument partners to build the tear panel into the instruments already in the exam room.
All diagnostics programs
One reporter. People, animals and the environment.
See the overview and readiness map →Intelligent Material Solutions invents the crystals and holds the intellectual property; NovaVera Corp. makes and sells them under an exclusive license. The field-proven lateral-flow tests are for research use only. Everything marked in development or concept is not a cleared medical, veterinary or environmental test; any product would need validation and, where required, regulatory clearance.
