Peek Retina is no longer available for sale, as of September 2020.
Peek Retina is a portable smartphone attachment that enables the user to view and capture images of the optic nerve through a dilated pupil. It was designed to be intuitive and easy to use and to work in any environment, from clinical settings to remote rural areas. From its launch in 2017 to September 2020, Peek Retina was available for sale via the Peek Vision website.
Peek decided to permanently close sales of Peek Retina in September 2020. We remain proud of Peek Retina, which was one of the first devices of its type, but it requires substantial further investment to meet its potential. Investing in our apps and processes to support eye health programmes will make a bigger contribution to achieving our mission than investing in the further developments needed for Peek Retina.
Peek Retina allows any smartphone user to convert their device into a digital direct ophthalmoscope in under 30 seconds.
Because it uses the smartphone’s inbuilt camera, images captured using Peek Retina can be shared with patients and clinical personnel or transferred to Electronic Patient Records via the phone’s messaging services (e.g. SMS, email).
Peek Retina is clinically validated and is a CE registered class 1 medical device in the EU.
It can also be used in educational and veterinary contexts.
In a clinical context, Peek Retina can be used to examine the optic nerve (e.g. for measuring vertical cup-to-disc ratio) in a dilated eye. Users need to have access to and be able to use dilating eye drops; they also need to be able to interpret images or have access to somebody who can.
In an educational context, Peek Retina can be used to train students who lack confidence in performing retinal examinations and need access to a low-cost, easy to use device to practice and discuss results with an expert. The training eye provided with each device means that students can practice without the need for face-to-face contact with a patient.
In research, Peek Retina is best suited to users who wish to measure biomarkers relating to the optic nerve such as disc diameter, vertical cup-to-disc ratio, rim width, notching, etc. It is also suitable for users who wish to validate Peek Retina against existing standards (ophthalmoscope, retinal cameras etc) or assess its use in specific workflows.
In clinical practice, the direct ophthalmoscope is the most commonly used tool for retinal examination by non-ophthalmologists. They require considerable expertise to use correctly.
Retinal cameras provide excellent images that can be acquired by technicians and shared. They are however designed to be static and are not often cost-effective or practical for remote or mobile (e.g. bedside) retinal assessments.
Since Peek Retina launched in 2017, a number of smartphone-based retinal imaging devices have emerged on the market. Peek Retina was designed to have the following distinctive features:
“When you meet people and you can solve their problem, it’s a great feeling - it is not just my joy, but the joy of the patient. And when you share their joy then that is double joy.”
Ophthalmologist and Peek Kenya Country Manager
