Professor Minas Coroneo and study participant Peter Phillips. Credit: Prince of Wales Hospital

Researchers at Australia’s Prince of Wales Hospital have begun a study of a prototype smartphone-based tool to assess ultraviolet (UV) damage to the eye, which can be an early predictor for skin cancer.

Despite the country having some of the world’s highest levels of UV radiation, with skin cancer and eye diseases impacting millions of Australians, there are currently no readily available, objective means of assessing early ocular UV damage, said Professor Minas Coroneo AO, study lead and the hospital’s head of ophthalmology. “Our team was one of the first to document that the UV-related conditions affecting the eye, such as pterygium and one type of cataract, could be an early sign of skin cancer, decades before its manifestation,” he said.

The team’s optical add-on can be retrofitted to smartphones, enabling instant and portable UV eye damage detection, he said. The study, made possible thanks to a $125,000 grant from Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation, is currently recruiting participants.