Principles of microscopy for ophthalmologists

This short review begins with the theories of Airy, Rayleigh and Abbe on microscope resolution. Next, the principal developments in microscopy in the last half-century are examined for relevance to ophthalmology: confocal microscopy, photoactivation light microscopy (PALM), stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), stimulated emission depletion (STED), structured illumination (SI), 2-photon and multiphoton excitation microscopy with a focused beam. Except for confocal, these are difficult to apply to the eye in vivo, as are the interference methods available in microscopes. However, interferometry in the form of coherence tomography is now a major ophthalmic method which has diverged from microscopy. Multiphoton excitation microscopy with an unfocussed beam is a new, low-damage microscope method so-far not exploited in ophthalmoscopy. The Mesolens, which throws off the historic limitations in microscopy set by the human eye, is described as a possible future aid to ophthalmology of the anterior eye.