In 2017, vision impairment in the U.S. incurred annual costs of $134.2 billion, a figure expected to rise due to an aging population. Early diagnosis of eye diseases is crucial to reduce both medical expenses and quality-of-life loss. With a global valuation of approximately $50 billion in 2023, the ophthalmology market is large and growing.

Two major causes of vision loss are Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) and Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). DR stems from diabetes-induced damage to the retina’s blood vessels, leading to reduced blood flow, hypoxia, and aneurysms. AMD, especially its more severe "wet" form, is caused by abnormal blood vessel growth and leads to rapid vision loss. In both conditions, local tissue oxygen saturation is a key indicator of disease progression, making it a promising early diagnostic biomarker.

This project aims to enhance a previously developed multicolor Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (mc-SLO) by integrating retro-illumination. This technique will allow detection of diffuse reflectance spectra, which, through Monte Carlo modeling, can be used to quantify retinal tissue oxygenation at the capillary level, where hypoxia begins. Unlike past single-wavelength retro-mode approaches, this multispectral, quantitative method represents a novel advancement, offering unprecedented diagnostic capability in retinal oximetry.