Purpose
Google Glass is a commercially available wearable technology consisting of a camera, optical display, microphone, touchpad, accelerometer, gyroscope, and bone-conduction speaker. It is relatively new to the market, and its application in healthcare has been rapidly expanding.1,2 Amongst its use in oculoplastic surgery is documentation of eyelid position. The margin reflex distance-1 (MRD-1) is the distance between the corneal light reflex and the upper eyelid margin in primary gaze. We have demonstrated the use digital photography with a handheld camera in image measurements of eyelid position. In the present study, we explore whether Google Glass can also be used for digital photography analysis of eyelid position. This proof of concept study compared clinically measured MRD-1 and Google Glass photographs.<br /> <br /> 1. Emergency providers see big potential for Google Glass. ED Manag. 2014;5(26):55-8.<br /> 2. Kantor J. First look: google glass in dermatology, mohs surgery, and surgical reconstruction. JAMA dermatology 2014;150(11):1191.
Methods
11 healthy patients (22 eyes) without ophthalmic disease were examined and photographed. The MRD-1 was measured with a handheld ruler. Google Glass photographs were taken of each subject with a ruler placed on the forehead in plane with the corneal surface. Digital image analysis of the photographs was performed to obtain the MRD-1 with ImageJ (http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij). Unpaired t-test was used to compare the clinical measurement to the image analysis (www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/ttest1.cfm).
Results
There were 10 women and 1 man. Mean clinical MRD-1 was 4.16 (range 3.0 to 6.0). The mean digital MRD-1 was 4.30 (range 3.08 to 5.78). Unpaired t-test revealed no statistically significant difference between these two groups (P = 0.56).
Conclusions
Google Glass offers the ability to analyze photographs for clinically relevant measurements. Our analysis demonstrates that these measurements were not statistically different from clinical evaluation. There were limitations to using this device, including camera positioning. However, this proof of concept study opens the possibility to modifications to the hardware and/or software of Google Glass to refine the photographic ease of use and resolution.