For Patients: Aqueo Eye Health Screening

Last updated: May 2026

In short

  • A short in-clinic screening on a tablet device, designed to help your care team understand how your eyes are feeling.
  • Includes a brief dry-eye questionnaire and a guided blink test. The video is uploaded only if you opt in to research.
  • Your clinic provides your name and date of birth so results can be matched to your record. We do not collect your health card number, phone number, or email.
  • Your clinic remains responsible for your medical record; Aqueo runs the screening on their behalf.
  • All clinical data is stored securely in Canada and automatically deleted after approximately 10 years, consistent with medical record retention requirements.
  • We do not sell your data or use your video for advertising or public AI models. Questions: privacy@aqueo.ca.

Your eye clinic may ask you to complete an Aqueo screening before your appointment.

This page explains what the test is, what you will be asked to do, and how your information is handled.

What this test is (and is not)

A short in-clinic check that adds context to your eye exam. It does not diagnose you and does not replace a visit with your eye care professional.

What it is:

A short check, completed in-clinic on a tablet, that includes:

  • a dry-eye symptom questionnaire, and

  • a guided blink test.

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

What it is not:

Aqueo is for in-clinic screening, triage support, and patient education — it does not diagnose, replace an eye exam, or decide your treatment. Final decisions about your care are always made by your clinic.

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

What you will be asked to do

This section walks through what you'll see on the clinic tablet, how long it usually takes, and what happens if the tablet's 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 6 questions (short dry-eye symptom questionnaire)

These questions help describe your symptoms and how much they bother you. They come from the OSDI-6, a widely used, validated dry-eye questionnaire (used under licence from AbbVie; shown in the app with the notice "© 2018 AbbVie. All rights reserved.").

3. Complete a guided blink test

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

  • The clinic tablet's 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 the tablet's 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 to upload the video for research. This is optional and requires separate consent — declining does not affect your care, and the blink test runs either way.

5. Submit your results

Your information is sent securely to your clinic.

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

What information Aqueo receives

This section lists what Aqueo collects through the test, and the personal identifiers we deliberately do not collect.

What Aqueo receives

✔ Your name and date of birth (from your clinic)

Provided by your clinic so test results can be matched to your chart. Each test is also assigned a unique Intake ID used throughout the Aqueo system.

✔ Dry-eye symptom questionnaire answers and score

Your responses to a short symptom questionnaire.

✔ Blink metrics derived from the blink test

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

The clinic tablet's camera records your blinking to compute these metrics. The video itself stays on the device and is not uploaded unless you separately opt in (see next item).

✔ Blink video, only if you opt in for research

The blink test runs either way. Uploading the recorded video for research or validation requires a separate, explicit opt-in. Choosing not to upload does not affect your care.

✔ Daily activities (optional)

A few optional questions about activities that can affect eye comfort, such as:

  • Hours spent on screens or close-up work each day
  • Whether you wear contact lenses, and how comfortable they feel
  • Time spent in air-conditioned or heated indoor environments

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

✔ Technical information

Device type, browser, timestamps, and error codes.

What Aqueo does NOT receive

  • Your health card number
  • Your phone number or email address
  • Your full medical chart

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.

✔ Keep the service reliable and secure

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 refine 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

Where your information is stored and for how long

This section describes where your data lives (encrypted, 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.

Retention

  • Your test data is:

    • stored securely,

    • moved to long-term encrypted storage,

    • automatically deleted after approximately 10 years (3650 days), consistent with CPSO clinical record retention requirements.

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

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

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:

  • decline the test,

  • decline the 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.

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 provincial privacy regulator (in Ontario, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario / IPC).

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