## 5 Challenges and Perspectives  
The advent of emerging technologies in SWIR has significantly advanced in vivo imaging quality in terms of resolution, imaging depth, and SNR. Furthermore, exploring biological tissue spectra within this wavelength range reveals distinct features of tissue constituents previously unseen in shorter wavelengths. The recent years have witnessed significant advancements in SWIR techniques, indicating a promising trajectory for the future of clinical applications as well as individualized bioinstruments. However, inherent challenges within SWIR imaging, encompassing limitations related to cost, performance, and the accessibility of SWIR light sources and detectors, cast a nuanced light on the broader application of SWIR techniques. The pursuit of novel materials to enhance cost-effectiveness and sensitivity in SWIR devices, along with addressing the scarcity of FDA-approved fluorophores tailored for SWIR emission, remains imperative. The complexity introduced by the limited availability of simulation and modeling tools adds another layer to the challenges faced in SWIR-based biophotonics research. Moreover, the relative scarcity of clinical studies utilizing SWIR, especially when compared to well-established modalities such as ultrasound imaging, underscores the need for expanded research efforts to unlock the full potential of SWIR in diverse clinical applications. Another challenge is the limited number of clinical studies employing the SWIR technique, especially when compared to well-established modalities such as ultrasound imaging. In the future, an increase in clinical studies using SWIR could unlock opportunities for improved disease diagnosis and prognosis. For instance, associations have been identified between ocular health and various diseases, [PERSON]'s disease, hypertension, CVDs, cerebrovascular disease, dysplasia, chronic kidney disease, and neurodegenerative disorders [116, 117, 118, 119]. The eyes serve as a window into the body's overall health, and emerging evidence suggests that ocular manifestations can provide valuable insights into the presence and progression of systemic diseases. Integrating OCT into comprehensive clinical assessments may offer a non-invasive means of diagnosing and monitoring systemic diseases, contributing to a more holistic approach in healthcare. For example, [PERSON]'s disease, characterized by dopaminergic neuron degeneration, exhibits changes in the retina. OCT allows high-resolution imaging of retinal layers implicated in [PERSON]'s pathology, potentially serving as an early indicator of the disease. Continued exploration and application of SWIR techniques, particularly in conjunction with OCT, could play a pivotal role in advancing our ability to diagnose, understand, and manage systemic diseases through ocular health indicators. Overcoming hardware design challenges for SWIR systems while miniaturizing bioinstruments for point-of-care applications remains essential. Notwithstanding these challenges, the applications of SWIR technology are burgeoning in various biomedical domains, particularly clinical imaging, enabling the visualization of previously imperceptible details. The extraction of valuable insights from data captured through SWIR techniques greatly contributes to data-driven personalized medicine. Simultaneously, ML emerges as a disruptive technology, fortifying SWIR techniques in myriad ways, including object detection, segmentation, image reconstruction, result quantification, decision making, and setup performance enhancement. The future envisions an increasingly pronounced role for ML, particularly DNNs, in advanced and automated diagnostics. The rapid development of ML algorithms anticipates more advanced image analysis tools extracting valuable insights from medical images with unparalleled precision. This will enable healthcare providers to tailor treatment plans more precisely to each patient's unique biology, leading to more effective and personalized therapeutic interventions.