News

Patients who complain of poor visual function after LASIK may have unstable tear film, which affects the smoothness of the ocular surface and disturbs vision. With the help of the functional visual acuity meter, clinicians can assess functional vision over 60 seconds and then address any instability of the tear film if necessary.

No evidence exists that refractive surgery causes chronic dry eye. In many cases, patients seeking refractive surgery already may have dry eye symptoms. It is the surgeon's responsibility to identify and treat dry eye prior to surgery, ensuring that the patient has a healthy ocular surface.

Treatment of contact lens-related dry eye is based on disease severity and frequently results in discontinuation of contact lens use.

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Vision health advocates convened here to review data and the effectiveness of various state policy models to provide children's vision care in what is touted as the first "Vision Summit."

Aliso Viejo, CA-First-quarter 2007 revenues for eyeonics inc., the developer of the crystalens accommodating IOL, have increased 36% over the same period last year, the company said.

The Lincy Foundation has given the first installment of a 4-year, $4.75 million grant to the Oregon Retinal Degeneration Center at Oregon Health & Science (OHSU) Casey Eye Institute.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is enrolling patients in a study to test the long-term safety and effectiveness of intraocular injections of ranibizumab (Lucentis, Genentech) in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME)

A federal appellate court has blocked the largest Canadian-owned pharmaceutical company from manufacturing and selling a generic version of Allergan's ketorolac tromethamine ophthalmic solution 0.5% (Acular).

Robert H. Osher, MD, has received numerous accolades over his lifetime as an innovative surgeon, video producer, athletic coach, professor, and medical director of a large practice. But, he said, the Charles Kelman Award he received recently from the Hellenic Society of Intraocular Implant & Refractive Surgery is among his most treasured.

Ophthalmologists and epidemiologists around the country are growing concerned about an apparent increase in the number of Acanthamoeba keratitis cases they are seeing.

Canaloplasty could be an effective approach to rejuvenating the outflow system in glaucoma patients without creating a bleb.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) causes a cascade of events in the eye that ultimately leads to glaucomatous damage of the optic nerve head and visual deterioration.

A study using confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy supports a previous report that breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen have a significantly smaller optic cup volume compared with healthy controls.

Researchers at Wilmer Eye Institute and Genentech collaborated to study retrospectively the incidence of myocardial infarction and strokes in persons with neovascular AMD. The initial results showed the rates increased with increasing levels of comorbidity.

A U.S. FDA clinical trial is now under way to explore the potential of intracorneal inlay technology to correct presbyopia in emmetropic patients.

A new speculum (Brown Triple-Post Speculum, Rhein Medical) can help make cataract and refractive surgery easier and safer to perform, said Reay H. Brown, MD, designer of the instrument.

A U.S. FDA clinical trial is now under way to explore the potential of intracorneal inlay technology to correct presbyopia in emmetropic patients.

Creating lamellar flaps with a certain femtosecond laser (IntraLase, Advanced Medical Optics) is as safe as those created with a mechanical microkeratome, according to the results of an international study.

Results from a study revealed that patients in whom a dual-optic accommodating IOL (Synchrony, Visiogen) has been implanted bilaterally have good functional vision at near, intermediate, and distance in everyday tasks.

Outcomes after wavefront-guided LASIK for myopia and myopic astigmatism using two Q-factor optimized excimer laser systems (NAVEX, Nidek; Zyoptix, Bausch & Lomb) were compared in a retrospective study.

An action as simple as addressing uncorrected refractive errors in elderly patients can elevate their vision-specific quality of life and improve their overall functioning.

New diagnostic software for a proprietary microkeratome (Carriazo-Pendular, Schwind eye-tech-solutions) enhances the safety of flap creation.

LASIK using certain wavefront technology (CustomVue, Advanced Medical Optics) continues to provide accurate, safe correction of high myopia according to the results of the VISX Investigational Study Group for Higher Myopia with the U.S. Clinical Trials.

Two trabecular bypass devices (iStent, Glaukos Corp.; EyePass, GMP Companies Inc.) are based on scientifically valid principles but await clinical validation through large, randomized trials.

Outcomes in 201 eyes that underwent minimally invasive glaucoma surgery with a novel device (Trabectome, NeoMedix Corp.) have demonstrated that the procedure has favorable efficacy and safety for lowering IOP in eyes with open-angle glaucoma.

Visual function-specific tests are useful in clinical practice because they can identify early vision loss and provide more detailed information about the impact of glaucoma on visual function than tests such as standard automated perimetry (SAP). Function-specific perimetry, combined with SAP or with another type of function-specific test, also can verify that loss of vision identified in an initial test is not due to artifact or variability.

The repeatability of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) was investigated in a retrospective study which included 52 eyes that were phakic, had primary open-angle glaucoma or pseudoexfoliation glaucoma, and maintained successful IOP control for at least 1 year after initial SLT.