Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an urgent need to develop protective measures to ensure patient and healthcare worker safety in clinical situations.

Direct/monocular ophthalmoscopy is particularly difficult to perform safely, given the very close proximity of the patient and the clinician. However, ophthalmoscopy is an important and on occasion an irreplaceable element of the neurological examination. It is particularly important for identifying papilloedema in headache, optic disc oedema and/or other retinal findings in acute visual loss, temporal disc atrophy in suspected multiple sclerosis or simply for reassuring someone with primary headache where the examination is otherwise normal or there are only superficial optic nerve drusen.¹

Using an ophthalmoscope when wearing adequate personal protective equipment can be challenging. From our experience, it is impractical to visualise the optic fundi while wearing protective glasses or a face shield, and …