Person reading comfortably in warm natural light

See Clearly. See Life Again.

Dry eye can turn everyday tasks into constant strain — reading, working on screens, or driving at night. The Aqueo Dry Eye Check helps your clinic understand your symptoms so you can get a treatment plan that brings relief and clarity back into your day.

How Dry Eye Shows Up in Daily Life

Dry eye affects more than your eyes — it affects your entire day. It can make simple things unnecessarily difficult:

  • Words drifting in and out of focus when reading
  • Burning or tired eyes by mid-day
  • Difficulty working on screens
  • Night driving that feels unsafe or uncomfortable
  • Frequent blinking, rubbing, or adjusting
  • Feeling like your eyes simply "can't keep up"

You're not imagining it. These symptoms are real — and treatable.

Person at laptop gently rubbing tired eyes

Key Benefits of Treating Dry Eye

Why Dry Eye Matters

Dry eye isn't just "dryness." It can sap your focus, your energy, and your enjoyment of the day. Treating dry eye helps restore clarity and comfort — so reading, working, and driving stop feeling like a struggle.

What Dry Eye Is

Dry Eye happens when your eyes don't stay properly lubricated. That can mean your tears evaporate too quickly, you don't make enough tears, or your tear film isn't the right quality. The Aqueo Dry Eye Check helps your clinic understand your unique pattern.

Find the Likely Causes

Everyone's dry eye has a different source. Your test helps your clinic see patterns — blink behaviour, symptom profile, daily habits — so they can better understand what's going on and why.

Explore Treatment Options That Work

Dry eye is treatable. Your clinic may recommend lubricating or medicated drops, heat-based treatments, lifestyle adjustments, or in-clinic therapies that restore the tear film and reduce irritation over time.

Your Path to Comfort

Dry eye improves most when care is personalized. Your clinic uses your Aqueo results to guide a clearer conversation and build a plan that fits your symptoms and lifestyle.

Step 1 — Understand Your Symptoms

Your questionnaire and blink test give your clinician a fuller picture before you arrive.

Step 2 — Build a Personalized Plan

Your clinician helps identify what's driving your symptoms and which treatments may help.

Step 3 — Start Feeling the Difference

With consistent care, patients often report clearer vision, less irritation, and more comfortable days.

Why Clinics Use Aqueo

Clinics use Aqueo to better understand your symptoms ahead of your visit — so you can spend your appointment discussing solutions, not repeating basic questions.

Before you walk in, your clinic may already have insight into:

  • How much your symptoms are affecting your day
  • How your blink pattern behaves
  • What daily factors may be contributing

This allows your appointment to focus on:

  • What's likely happening
  • Treatment options
  • What improvement may look like
  • How to get the best outcomes over time

Aqueo does not diagnose or decide your treatment — it simply gives your clinic clearer information so they can support your care.

Bright, minimalist medical clinic interior with warm neutrals

Important Information About Your Test

▸1. What the test includes (and what it doesn't)

This is a short online check that adds context to your eye exam. It does not diagnose you, and it does not replace a visit with your eye care professional.

What it is:

A short online check that includes:

  • a dry-eye symptom questionnaire (for example DEQ-5, where licensed), and

  • a guided blink test using your device's camera.

It helps your clinic understand your symptoms and blink behaviour so you arrive better informed and prepared for your visit.

What it is not:

  • It does not diagnose you.

  • It does not replace an eye exam.

  • It does not decide your treatment.

Final decisions about your care are always made by your clinic.

Aqueo is designed for pre-visit education, not diagnosis or triage.

Important: Your clinic remains responsible for your medical record; Aqueo operates the test on their behalf.

▸2. What you'll be asked to do

This section walks through what you'll see on screen, how long it usually takes, and what happens if your camera doesn't work.

Most patients finish the test in a few minutes.

1. Read a short explanation and consent

You'll see a simple description of the process and how your information is used.

2. Answer 5 questions (short dry-eye symptom questionnaire)

These questions help describe your symptoms and how much they bother you.

3. Complete a guided blink test

The blink test is a standard part of the Aqueo workflow.

  • Your camera records your eye blinking for about 60 seconds.

  • The system measures:

    • how often you blink,

    • how long your eyes stay open,

    • how completely your eyelids close,

    • basic quality checks (lighting, face position).

If your camera is unavailable or cannot work, the system will let you continue with the questionnaire alone.

4. Optional video upload consent

After the blink test, you may be asked whether you want to upload the video for research or validation purposes.

Blink videos for research are optional and require separate consent.

  • This upload is optional.

  • You can complete the blink test without uploading the video for research.

  • Choosing not to upload does not affect your care.

5. Submit your results

Your information is sent securely to your clinic.

You may see a short summary confirming the test was completed.

▸3. What we collect (and what we don't)

Here you can see the specific questionnaire answers, blink data, and optional information we receive—and the personal identifiers we do not receive through this test.

Aqueo receives only the information needed to run the test:

✔ Short dry-eye symptom questionnaire answers and score

Answers to a short dry-eye symptom questionnaire (for example DEQ-5, where licensed).

✔ Short blink video and derived blink metrics

  • Blink rate (blinks per minute)
  • Incomplete blink percentage
  • Inter-blink interval measurements
  • Other blink pattern metrics derived from the video

(based on the required blink test)

✔ Daily activities (optional)

As part of the online check, we may ask a few optional questions about your daily activities that can affect eye comfort, such as:

  • How many hours you spend on screens or close-up work each day
  • Whether you wear contact lenses and how long they feel comfortable
  • How much time you spend in air-conditioned or heated indoor places

You can skip any of these questions. Your answers help your clinic interpret your results and tailor advice.

✔ Blink video (only if you choose to upload it for research)

  • The blink test runs either way.

  • Uploading the video for research requires a separate opt-in.

✔ Clinician-entered findings (after your visit)

After your clinic visit, your clinician may enter findings into the Aqueo system, including:

  • Dry-eye phenotype and severity assessment
  • Tear-film stability assessment
  • Treatment decisions and treatments initiated
  • Optional test results (such as TBUT, Schirmer test, osmolarity, staining, meibomian gland assessment, and other clinical measurements)
  • Clinical notes and observations

These annotations help your clinic track your care and may be used (in de-identified form) to improve the Aqueo service.

✔ Technical information

Device type, browser, timestamps, and error codes.

❌ What Aqueo does NOT receive through this test

We do not receive:

  • your name

  • your date of birth

  • your health card number

  • your email or phone number

  • your full medical chart

Aqueo receives your questionnaire answers and blink metrics but does not receive your name or health card number through this test.

Your clinic uses a pseudonymous intake ID when interacting with Aqueo.

Only your clinic can link that ID back to you.

If you email Aqueo directly, we only see what you send in your message.

▸4. How your information is used

This explains how your clinic and Aqueo use your results to prepare for your visit, operate the service, and, with appropriate safeguards, support quality improvement and optional research.

Your information is used to:

✔ Help you and your clinic prepare for your visit

Your clinic uses your questionnaire score and blink metrics to better understand your symptoms before your appointment and to support more informed discussions about treatment options.

✔ Operate and improve the service

Technical information helps us keep the tool reliable and secure.

✔ Improve Aqueo using de-identified data

We may use de-identified or pseudonymised information to develop, train, validate, and improve algorithms (including machine learning models) that improve accuracy, usability, and reliability of the Aqueo service.

✔ Optional research

Blink videos are uploaded only if you choose to participate in optional research or validation.

❌ Aqueo does NOT:

  • sell your information

  • use your data for advertising

  • use videos to train public or third-party AI models

Aqueo does not sell data or use video for advertising or public AI models.

▸5. Where your information is stored and for how long

This section describes where your data lives (in encrypted form in Canada) and how long it is kept before being automatically deleted.

  • All data from this test is stored in encrypted form in Canada (AWS ca-central-1).

  • Data is encrypted when sent and when stored.

All clinical data is stored securely in Canada (AWS ca-central-1) and automatically deleted after ~3 years.

Retention

  • Your test data is:

    • stored securely,

    • moved to long-term encrypted storage,

    • automatically deleted after about 3 years (1095 days).

  • Technical logs (no full clinical contents) are kept for about 90 days.

Your clinic can ask Aqueo to delete specific records sooner where appropriate.

▸6. Your choices and controls

This outlines the choices you have about using the test, participating in optional research, and asking questions about how your results are used.

You can choose to:

  • complete or not complete the test,

  • decline optional research video upload,

  • ask your clinic how your results are used and stored.

For privacy-related questions:

  • Your clinic is your primary point of contact,

  • You may also contact privacy@aqueo.ca to understand how Aqueo handles information as your clinic's service provider.

▸7. Who is responsible for your information

This clarifies how responsibility is split between your clinic (as the Health Information Custodian under PHIPA) and Aqueo as its authorized service provider.

  • Your clinic is the Health Information Custodian (HIC) under PHIPA.

  • Aqueo acts only as its authorized agent/service provider.

If you have concerns:

  • speak with your clinic's privacy officer or manager,

  • or contact the relevant privacy regulator (e.g., IPC Ontario or OPC Canada).

If anything is unclear, bring this with you to your appointment or email privacy@aqueo.ca with questions.

Last updated: November 2025