Haag-Streit BQ 900 LED Slit Lamp

Description

Haag-Streit BQ 900 is the premier slit lamp for ophthalmology. This instrument is versatile and easy to use while boasting the best optics in the business, making it the most popular slit lamp in top ophthalmology practices, hospitals, and teaching and government institutions. It is based on a modular system that offers digital imaging (both still photography and video) and a wide range of accessories, including teaching scopes, inclined eyepieces, and, for retinal specialists, the unique stereo variator.

The BQ 900 slit lamp is the standard for those who require the most demanding slit lamp microscopy. Its wide range of optional accessories provides comfortable conditions for any examination.

Why Practices Choose the Haag-Streit BQ 900

• Flagship 900-series optical system — The BQ 900 represents the highest optical specification in the Haag-Streit 900 family, with wider beam dimensions and finer optical tolerances than the BD and BM models — delivering the beam precision and contrast needed for specular reflection corneal endothelium evaluation and optical section analysis through hazy media.
• LED illumination with consistent spectral output — LED eliminates the progressive color shift and intensity decline of halogen bulbs, ensuring that the cobalt blue excitation, red-free vascular contrast, and white-light color rendering remain consistent across thousands of examination hours without bulb replacement.
• Full slit beam control — 0 to 14 mm width and height — Continuously adjustable slit width and height with 180° rotation provides the beam versatility needed for every examination technique: direct focal illumination, indirect illumination, specular reflection, retro-illumination, sclerotic scatter, and tangential illumination.
• 5-step magnification from 6× to 40× — Wide magnification range supports diffuse anterior segment survey at 6×, routine biomicroscopy at 10×–16×, and high-power endothelial examination at 25×–40× — with smooth magnification steps that do not require refocusing when changing power.
• Compatible with AT 900 Goldmann tonometer — The BQ 900 accepts the AT 900 applanation tonometer as an optional add-on, enabling practices to configure the instrument with or without tonometry depending on examination lane requirements.
• Documentation and photography ready — The BQ 900 platform supports slit lamp camera adapters and beam splitter attachments for anterior segment photography and videography — making it the preferred base instrument for practices adding slit lamp documentation capability.
• Long service life with full parts support — The Haag-Streit 900 platform has been in continuous production since 1959; parts, service manuals, and qualified technicians are available worldwide — making the BQ 900 one of the most supportable ophthalmic instruments available regardless of instrument age.

Clinical Applications

• Corneal disease diagnosis and monitoring — Optical section illumination reveals epithelial, stromal, and endothelial pathology; specular reflection shows endothelial cell density and polymegethism; retro-illumination highlights anterior subcapsular opacities and corneal dystrophy deposits with clarity that lower-quality slit lamp optics cannot match.
• Dry eye and ocular surface assessment — Cobalt blue illumination with fluorescein sodium visualizes corneal staining patterns, meibomian gland dysfunction evaluation, and tear film break-up time across the full exposure zone — the foundation of every dry eye work-up and treatment monitoring protocol.
• Anterior segment examination — Standard slit lamp biomicroscopy of the eyelids, conjunctiva, cornea, anterior chamber, iris, and crystalline lens forms the basis of every comprehensive ophthalmic examination — including nuclear sclerosis grading, angle estimation, and anterior vitreous assessment.
• Contact lens fitting and management — White-light biomicroscopy for lens centration, fluorescein pattern assessment for RGP and scleral lens fit, and corneal staining grading for contact lens–related complications require the optical quality and beam precision that the BQ 900 provides.
• Posterior segment with auxiliary lenses — Combined with a non-contact fundus lens (78D, 90D) or contact lens, the BQ 900 enables indirect slit lamp biomicroscopy of the optic disc, macula, and peripheral retina — providing posterior segment access in every exam lane.
• Anterior segment documentation — With a camera adapter or beam splitter, the BQ 900 provides the base for slit lamp photography of corneal pathology, anterior chamber findings, and iris abnormalities for medical record documentation, patient education, and publication.

Who This Is For

• Corneal and external disease specialists — the BQ 900’s optical precision, LED cobalt blue filter, and documentation compatibility make it the instrument of choice for subspecialty corneal examination and disease management that demands the highest slit lamp image quality.
• Dry eye and ocular surface practices — high-volume dry eye clinics performing repeated fluorescein staining documentation benefit from the LED’s consistent spectral output and long bulb life compared to halogen systems that require frequent bulb changes in a busy examination schedule.
• Comprehensive ophthalmology and optometry practices equipping an additional exam lane with the same reference-standard optical quality as their primary instrument — the BQ 900 eliminates the optical quality variation between lanes that lower-tier instruments introduce.
• Practices adding slit lamp documentation — the BQ 900’s camera-adapter compatibility makes it the logical base instrument for practices planning to add anterior segment photography without purchasing a separate photo slit lamp.
• Residency and fellowship training programs — training on the Haag-Streit BQ 900 platform ensures that trainees develop slit lamp technique on the same instrument they will use throughout their careers, as the 900-series is the reference standard in virtually every academic ophthalmology training program.

Technical Specifications

Reference

• Brochure