fbpx
Home / etc  / How to detect eye cancer with your smartphone

How to detect eye cancer with your smartphone

Retinoblastoma is a deadly eye cancer that develops in children, and because the disease is so difficult to detect it often ends up stealing the sense of sight from its young victims. However, one of the easiest ways to determine whether or not someone is suffering from the disease is through the use of a smartphone—and you don’t even need an app.

By simply taking a snapshot of a person’s eyes, you can determine if the affliction is present, because an eye suffering from retinoblastoma often causes the pupil to appear white in a photograph.    

Using this as its premise, UK-based agency developed an innovative campaign for the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust that encourages parents to take pictures of their children’s eyes.

The agency photographed the eyes of several retinoblastoma survivors and used these images on a serious of posters, which were coated with an ink that reacts to camera flashes and turns white, mirroring how a cancerous eye reacts to photography.

 These posters were then put up around doctors offices to educate parents on the disease and make them aware that a simple act—using technology that now comes standard in most smartphones—can save the sight of a child.   

Review overview