True color scanning laser ophthalmoscopy and optical coherence tomography handheld probe.

Scanning laser ophthalmoscopes (SLOs) are able to achieve superior contrast and axial sectioning capability compared to fundus photography. However, SLOs typically use monochromatic illumination and are thus unable to extract color information of the retina. Previous color SLO imaging techniques utilized multiple lasers or narrow band sources for illumination, which allowed for multiple color but not "true color" imaging as done in fundus photography. We describe the first "true color" SLO, handheld color SLO, and combined color SLO integrated with a spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) system. To achieve accurate color imaging, the SLO was calibrated with a color test target and utilized an achromatizing lens when imaging the retina to correct for the eye's longitudinal chromatic aberration. Color SLO and OCT images from volunteers were then acquired simultaneously with a combined power under the ANSI limit. Images from this system were then compared with those from commercially available SLOs featuring multiple narrow-band color imaging.