Abstract: There is described an automated slit lamp system for imaging an eye of a patient. The automated slit lamp system generally has: an illuminator emitting an illumination beam towards the eye of the patient during examination, the illuminator being operable to illuminate the eye of the patient in different illumination patterns; a controller communicatively coupled to the illuminator, the controller controlling the illuminator to automatically illuminate the eye of the patient with a sequence of illumination patterns comprising at least a first illumination pattern and a second illumination pattern being different from the first illumination pattern, the first and second illumination patterns being selected from a group comprising: diffuse illumination, direct focal illumination, tangential illumination, retroillumination, indirect illumination and sclerotic scatter illumination; and a camera generating images of the eye during both the first and second illumination patterns.