A recent study evaluated the safety of mobile eye screening programs and found minimal risk of adverse events.
The study was conducted through the Casey Outreach Program at Oregon Health and Science University, and researchers analyzed follow-up data from participants who received free vision screenings through the program between January 2022 and December 2024. They conducted telephone interviews with randomly selected English-speaking participants who had previously undergone mobile eye screenings. The screenings included visual acuity testing, intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement, pupil dilation, and slit-lamp examinations.
To assess potential adverse events, participants were asked about eye-related complications, including corneal abrasions, angle-closure glaucoma, driving accidents, and ground-level falls. Researchers also contacted three national and international mobile eye programs—Kress Vision, OneSight, and VSP Vision—to determine whether they tracked adverse events.
Out of 451 program participants, 30 completed follow-up interviews. Approximately half of respondents (53%) reported no harmful effects following their eye screening. The most common mild, self-resolving symptoms included eye pain (27%) and nervousness about procedures (17%). No participants reported serious adverse events such as corneal abrasions, angle-closure glaucoma, driving-related accidents, or falls.
A review of 12 years of Casey Outreach Program data (more than 12,000 screenings) identified 1 case of acute unilateral narrow-angle glaucoma, which was an undiagnosed preexisting condition. This finding “arguably benefitted the patient through initiating care,” Ryan Schmidt, BA, of the Oregon Health and Science University Casey Eye Institute in Portland wrote with colleagues in their research letter in JAMA Ophthalmology.
Study limitations included the low number of follow-up participants, which limited the ability to draw broad conclusions. Participants screened as early as 2022 may have forgotten minor adverse effects, and none of the 3 external mobile eye programs surveyed formally recorded adverse events, which made direct comparisons difficult.
“Mobile eye clinics are an important strategy to improve access to eye health services. They can provide local, timely, and culturally appropriate eye care with minimal risk,” the researchers described. “This study represents an initial step toward developing systematic monitoring for adverse events in the Casey Outreach Program and encouraging similar programs to report such data.”
No conflicts of interest were reported.
