The diagnostic capabilities of a new confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscope/biomicroscope will be studied. The instrument overcomes most of the problems encountered in earlier approaches to quantitative diagnostics of the human eye and especially provides a considerable improvement in lateral as well as depth resolution of the different compartments of the human eye. It will image and evaluate the three-dimensional microscopic retinal anatomy, lens structure and anatomy, and the corneal topography. Details of all the cells of the cornea can be obtained because of its section-wise imaging capabilities. The confocal laser scanning approach has proven to be particularly valuable in epifluorescence cell studies. A powerful multi-microprocessor image processing system allows for real time reconstruction of three dimensional imaging data. The instrument promises new advantages for early quantitative diagnosis of glaucoma, cataract, and the normal and diseased cornes.
