Ahuja Abhimanyu S, Paredes Iii Alfredo A, Eisel Mallory L S, Ahuja Sejal A, Wagner Isabella V, Vasu Pranav, Dorairaj Syril, Miller Darby, Abubaker Yazan
Department of Ophthalmology, Casey Eye Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
Department of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Boca Raton, FL, USA.
Clin Ophthalmol. 2025 May 21;19:1683-1692. doi: 10.2147/OPTH.S517974. eCollection 2025.
Virtual reality (VR) has been implemented in multiple facets of healthcare and the study of medicine. In the field of ophthalmology, VR facilitates surgical and non-surgical training while assisting in diagnosis and treatment. Our goal was to explore the applications and feasibility of VR in ophthalmology. We performed a search of the literature on the journal database PubMed using keywords relevant to VR integration in ophthalmological medicine. We included articles published since 2015 in this review of literature. The literature search yielded extensive applications of VR in medical training, as well as techniques for efficient diagnosis and screening using VR models including Eyesi and HelpMeSee. VR training simulators have decreased surgical error rates and improved technique in cataract surgery. In vitreoretinal surgery, a VR vitreoretinal training simulator resulted in improved surgical performance in both training and experienced surgeons. VR is also utilized in non-surgical training through an app to develop fundoscopy skills and slit-lamp training for medical students. Additionally, VR is used in diagnosis, screening, and treatment of glaucoma, amblyopia, and strabismus. VR has also improved visual field defects in patients with glaucoma and treated amblyopia in children who did not improve with patching. Barriers to the widespread implementation of VR include high initial capital cost, limited sample sizes for research studies, and discrepancies between VR visual field and real-world clinical practice. Future research in streamlining VR methods to be more accessible and cost-effective has the potential to overcome these challenges. With further investigation into the logistics of VR applications, this technology could improve surgical outcomes and diagnostic accuracy.
虚拟现实（VR）已应用于医疗保健和医学研究的多个方面。在眼科领域，VR有助于手术和非手术培训，同时辅助诊断和治疗。我们的目标是探索VR在眼科中的应用及可行性。我们在期刊数据库PubMed上使用与VR整合到眼科医学相关的关键词进行文献检索。我们纳入了自2015年以来发表的文章进行本次文献综述。文献检索发现VR在医学培训中有广泛应用，以及使用包括Eysi和HelpMeSee在内的VR模型进行高效诊断和筛查的技术。VR训练模拟器降低了白内障手术的错误率并提高了手术技巧。在玻璃体视网膜手术中，一种VR玻璃体视网膜训练模拟器使实习医生和经验丰富的外科医生的手术表现均得到改善。VR还通过一款应用程序用于非手术培训，以培养医学生的检眼镜检查技能和裂隙灯检查训练。此外，VR用于青光眼、弱视和斜视的诊断、筛查及治疗。VR还改善了青光眼患者的视野缺损，并治疗了眼罩治疗无效的儿童弱视。VR广泛应用的障碍包括初始资本成本高、研究样本量有限以及VR视野与现实世界临床实践之间的差异。未来简化VR方法以使其更易于使用和更具成本效益的研究有可能克服这些挑战。随着对VR应用后勤保障的进一步研究，这项技术可以改善手术效果和诊断准确性。
