Dr. Prithvi Chandrakanth, a postgraduate resident of the Department of Ophthalmology at Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital has designed a device — the T3 retcam (Trash to Treasure retina camera) — by recycling hand sanitizer bottles, to take photos and videos of the retina of the eye. The device was unveiled by Dr. Chandrakanth at Pudhuvue-18, the State Ophthalmic conference, which concluded recently.
According to a release, fundus cameras, used for taking photographs of the retina, are very expensive and heavy. Most of the fundus cameras also do not have a video recording facility. The T3 retcam was made with a used hand sanitizer bottle, modified to house a 20D lens (condensing lens used by Ophthalmologists to do indirect Ophthalmoscopy to view the retina) at one end and a smartphone at the other end of the bottle.