A dry eye test that fits on the counter.
Roughly half of us get at least one symptom of dry eye syndrome in our lifetime. Almost nobody gets it checked. Alphega wanted the screening to happen where people already are: at the pharmacy counter, on a tablet, in under ten minutes, with no appointment. We designed and built it in about three months — and it is still screening patients five years on.
300+ pharmacies, one counter.
Alphega is a network of more than 300 independent pharmacies in the Czech Republic, operating under Alliance Healthcare. Dry eye syndrome touches roughly half the population at some point, but it sits in an awkward gap: uncomfortable enough to matter, rarely urgent enough to book a doctor for.
Alphega's answer was to move the screening to a place people already visit anyway — the counter of their local pharmacy. Guava came in as VMLY&R's development partner and both designed and built the whole thing: the test itself, the public site around it, and the admin system behind it.
Not a questionnaire.
This needed more than a website. It needed an interactive tool precise enough to produce a meaningful result, simple enough for any pharmacist to run between customers, and manageable enough for the network to track and evaluate at scale.
One service, four surfaces.
The interactive test
Not a questionnaire but a measurement. Guided by the pharmacist, the patient works through on-screen exercises while the app times how long each eye holds a clear image before vision blurs or the eye blinks — recorded separately per eye.
The educational site
A public hub on dry eye syndrome: what the symptoms are, what raises the risk, what helps prevent it, and a library of articles for anyone who wants to read up before walking in.
The pharmacy map
A map of every participating pharmacy, so a patient who has just recognised their own symptoms can find the nearest counter that runs the screening.
The admin system
Pharmacists and administrators log in to record and track every screening performed across the network, with exports in reportable formats for evaluation.
Measured, not reported.
The whole point is to replace an opinion with a number. Four steps, five to ten minutes, one pharmacist and one tablet.
The pharmacist starts the session
The test runs on a tablet at the counter, guided end to end by the pharmacist. No appointment, no waiting room, no doctor.
One eye at a time
The patient reads from the screen with one eye covered, so each eye is assessed entirely on its own.
The app times the blur
It measures how long that eye holds a clear image before vision blurs or the eye blinks — and records the moment it happens.
A result in minutes
Instead of self-reported symptoms, the pharmacist ends up with an objective, per-eye indicator of tear film quality.
Still in service, five years on.
Nearly 700 screenings have been performed in 52 pharmacies across the Czech Republic. Built in roughly three months in 2021, the tool is still online and still recording screenings in 2026, with only minimal maintenance along the way.
The lasting result is not a number, though. It is a screening service that gives a pharmacy network a health-first reason for someone to walk in — and a piece of software that has quietly kept doing its job for half a decade.
Tell us what’s slowing you down.
We’ll come back with an honest take on scope, timeline and cost. No obligation, no sales pitch.