News

The eye isn't the only organ that consumes the time of one New York City ophthalmologist. For Hampson A. Sisler, MD, FACS, FAGO (Fellow, American Guild of Organists), his craft as a musician leads him to an organ of another sort. In fact, the 73-year-old physician has been a professional church organist much longer than he has been an ophthalmologist.

Sun City West, AZ—The effects of low vision in elderly patients, who make up the majority of individuals affected, can be devastating. Visual impairments rank just behind arthritis and heart disease in terms of the impact on the elderly population. Low-vision rehabilitation is extremely helpful in allowing elderly patients, that is, one in four of those over age 75 years, to function as fully as possible by teaching them how to reorganize their environment and use low-vision technology.

Fraud and abuse in the ophthalmologist's optical dispensary are difficult to detect. Once suspected or even discovered, it is even more difficult as well as time-consuming to assess what is really happening, and to what extent it is having a negative impact on the practice and dispensary.

Green Valley, AZ—At Crystal Reflections Inc., artists hand-paint contact lenses for cosmetic and theatrical use.

Carlsbad, CA—The FDA has given SynergEyes Inc. approval to market SynergEyes A hybrid contact lenses to correct hyperopic, myopic, and astigmatic errors, including presbyopia.

Advanced surface ablation techniques offer potential advantages that make them attractive alternatives to LASIK for wavefront-guided procedures.

Washington, DC—Registration is a vital link in the refractive surgeon's quest to optimize quality-of-vision outcomes after customized ablation procedures, said Kerry D. Solomon, MD, at World Cornea Congress V.

Reading, MA—Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) is safer than argon laser trabeculoplasty (ALT) as a treatment for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and offers the considerable advantage of not causing structural damage to the trabecular meshwork, said Mark A. Latina, MD.

Fort Lauderdale, FL—The management of ocular hypertension has been receiving increased attention since the publication of the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) results in June 2002. An important area of controversy is what people with ocular hypertension, if anyone, should be treated in the face of treatment costs that approach more than $500/year and the risk of side effects.

Washington, DC—Maintaining an index of suspicion for Acanthamoeba infection in patients with keratitis is important, irrespective of a history of contact lens wear, because timely diagnosis and prompt treatment initiation are critical for a good prognosis, said John K. Dart, DM, FRCS, FRCOphth, at World Cornea Congress V.

That cryotherapy was to be useful in ophthalmology was first shown by Frederich Schoeler (1844-1918) in a German paper, in which he described application of cold carbonic acid crystals to the sclera of rabbits and showed that a lesion of the retina could be produced.

Iowa City-Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with the development of various forms of nystagmus. The association is so strong that new-onset nystagmus in an adult should be considered MS until proven otherwise.

Iowa City—The rate of visual field loss in patients who had optic nerve head drusen (ONHD) was about 1.6% per year, approximately what would be expected for this condition, said Andrew G. Lee, MD, professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and neurosurgery at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City.

In the field of glaucoma therapy, a study onthe measurement of central corneal thickness suggested that clinicians may be overestimating IOP in children with thick corneas.

Baltimore—The intravitreal bioerodable dexamethasone implant, evaluated in the Posurdex (Oculex Pharmaceuticals Inc./ Allergan) for Persistent Macular Edema Study, is a drug-delivery system that achieved the primary efficacy outcome, i.e., 2 lines or more improvement in vision 90 days after treatment, with the 700-mg dose.

Two large prospective studies are under way to define better the ideal dose for IVTA injections.

With the instrumentation enhancements, it is easier for the surgeon to deal with peripheral pathology.

The problem with the use of the conversion factor is that physicians are penalized or rewarded based on a sustainable growth rate, which says that the rate of growth of services cannot exceed the growth of the gross domestic product.

San Francisco—The search for a cure for venous occlusive disease continues but at a slow pace. The last 20 years have seen the introduction of promising medical and surgical therapy for venous occlusive disease. However, the results of prospective trials of these treatments are lacking.

Iowa City, IA—Over the past 20 years, advances in diagnosis of posterior segment tumors have been achieved as well as improved understanding of the cellular biology, immunology, and genetics of lesions.

Montr?al—The blue light-filtering effects in the AcrySof Natural ultraviolet (UV) IOL (Alcon Laboratories) significantly reduce apoptosis of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells induced by blue light compared with the conventional AcrySof filter lens. Implantation of a lens with a blue filter may be beneficial for patients who are at increased risk for the development of macular degeneration.

Lisbon, Portugal—Blue-blocking IOLs, which recently have been promoted as being vision protecting, may not be doing the job.

Doubts and concerns regarding efficacy and safety often accompany the introduction of technologies in IOLs. Recent concerns with a wavefront-corrected IOL (Tecnis, Advanced Medical Optics [AMO]) with regard to tilt and decentration are no exception to this rule.

Adelaide, Australia—Ophthalmic laser manufacturer Laserex has appointed Simon Luscombe as vice president of sales, Asia, in an effort to increase its Asian market share. Luscombe previously was in product management and sales management positions at Alcon and Advanced Medical Optics.

San Diego—The San Diego Eye Bank offers monthly "grand rounds" meetings with an opportunity to earn 1 or 2 hours of continuing medical education (CME) credit .

Fairfax, VA—The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) has improved its Web site to be more user-friendly.

Rochester, NY—Bausch & Lomb introduces a Web site to promote its SofPort Advanced Optics IOL and Easy-Load Lens Delivery System for cataract surgery.

Alpharetta, GA—When the global management of Novartis decided to shut down its ophthalmic operations in Duluth, GA, in early 2003 and relocate to New Jersey, Dan Myers, then president of Novartis Ophthalmics/North America, thought he would leave the company and have the next 6 months to relax.