Future Eye Exams Could Predict Alzheimer's Risk

In the not-so-distant future, a routine eye exam may have the ability to detect your risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. This may seem like a bold claim, but it has research to back it up, plus the support of Bill Gates and other investors, looking to develop an affordable and reliable test for the disease.

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, and we don’t have an easy way to conclusively test for it. Currently, doctors use expensive brain (PET) scans or painful spinal taps to help them make a diagnosis, but generally, there is no confirmation until the patient begins to show symptoms.

An Alzheimer’s test that could be administered during a routine eye exam would be a game changer. If we had the ability predict the disease several years before a patient begins to display symptoms, we can then begin work on ways to slow the disease’s progression.

So how long will it be before a reliable Alzheimer’s predictor becomes a part of your eye exam? Five to ten years, according to the research team at Washington University. This time frame could be significantly shortened by the $30 million in funding from Bill Gates and other investors. This funding will support researchers and start-ups as they speed the development and production of the necessary diagnostic tools, so that they can be affordably added to your annual routine eye exam. 

Click here to read more on the facts about who is involved in the research and what they have accomplished, to date.  In the meantime, don’t forget to schedule your routine eye exam with our expert eye care professionals at the Rochester Eye & Laser Center.