News

La Jolla, CA—Pfizer Inc. has acquired Angiosyn Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing an angiostatic agent for ophthalmic diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Surgeons who have resorted to using off-label dyes to stain the anterior lens capsule during cataract surgery have a new ophthalmic solution designed to facilitate removal of very mature cataracts.

Sometimes we have to look carefully at the results we are getting in our own patients.

All three of us now have personalized nomograms and strongly prefer to use customized ablation whenever possible.

New Orleans—Adding a third or fourth medication to a glaucoma patient's therapeutic regimen has many drawbacks but a few potentially positive aspects as well and should be considered on an individual patient basis, said Shan C. Lin, MD, assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, and San Francisco General Hospital.

Philadelphia—The astigmatism induced by conductive keratoplasty (CK) can be minimized by obtaining better centration of the corneal template mark around the pupil.

Actual physician clinic with multiple dispensing locations

If you want to rev up your revenues, pay attention to the post-cataract eyewear sales opportunities in your optical dispensary.

New York—One ophthalmologist and 10 other eye-care professionals are helping to guide the scope and content of the International Vision Expo East meeting and trade show on March 10 to 13 in New York City.

The recently approved fixed combination of loteprednol etabonate 0.5%/tobramycin 0.3% (Zylet, Bausch & Lomb) is the first combination corticosteroid/ anti-infective ophthalmic product to be introduced to the market in more than 15 years.

All three of us now have personalized nomograms and strongly prefer to use customized ablation whenever possible.

Optometrists are no longer permitted to perform laser eye surgery at facilities run by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). That directive came about Dec. 17 following a campaign undertaken by various associations and individual physicians who saw such surgeries as threats to patient safety.

New Orleans—Late-onset bleb leakage needs to be controlled to avoid such complications as blebitis or bleb-related endophthalmitis, which can result in poor visual outcome, reported Philip P. Chen, MD, during the glaucoma subspecialty day meeting at the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

New Orleans—Adding a third or fourth medication to a glaucoma patient's therapeutic regimen has many drawbacks but a few potentially positive aspects as well and should be considered on an individual patient basis, said Shan C. Lin, MD, assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology, University of California, San Francisco, and San Francisco General Hospital.

New Orleans—Patients with refractory glaucoma may be candidates for transscleral or endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation (CPC) to lower IOP (Figure 1), although there is no direct evidence comparing the two approaches, explained Neeru Gupta, MD, PhD.

Barcelona, Spain—The Zyoptix system (Bausch & Lomb) for wavefront-guided ablation is as effective as the conventional Planoscan (Bausch & Lomb) LASIK procedure in the correction of low to moderate myopia. Zyoptix, however, is advantageous because it induces less total, higher-order, and third-order aberrations. In addition, the quality of vision under low illumination and with low-contrast objects is better than that achieved with Planoscan, according to Jorge Castanera, MD, and Carlos Rios, OC.

New Orleans—Wavefront-guided LASIK re-treatments in post-LASIK eyes resent a good option for refractive correction, according to results of a small study in which nearly all eyes showed a reduction of pre-existing total aberrations and some reduction in higher-order aberration components.

New Orleans—A LASIK multifocal treatment approach for presbyopia produced accurate distance vision corrections accompanied by gains in near vision, according to a small Canadian trial in which patients had been followed for 1 year postoperatively. Patients who underwent the procedure also reported high overall satisfaction, said W. Bruce Jackson, MD, FRCSC, professor and chairman, department of ophthalmology, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Lafayette, LA—The LaFaci Surgical System (Vision Pro, LLC, Opelousas, LA) allows the LASIK surgeon to perform a number of specialized functions in the surgical field through the use of one handpiece. This capability, according to the developer of the system, Leon C. LaHaye II, MD, facilitates the entire second stage, i.e., following lifting of the flap, of the LASIK procedure.

New Orleans—LASEK, in contrast to PRK, provides a good, stable flap, and as a result of that difference, LASEK has important advantages that include less pain, less regression, and less risk of haze, said Massimo Camellin, MD, at a refractive surgery lecture during the International Society of Refractive Surgery of the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

New Orleans—Separate prospective comparison studies of LASIK platforms have shown that the systems evaluated produced similarly successful outcomes with relatively minor differences. According to speakers at a refractive surgery session at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting, these studies also represent a welcome trend toward head-to-head comparisons of the various platforms and a step toward expanding evaluation criteria.

New Orleans—The Allegretto Wave excimer laser (WaveLight Laser Technologie AG, Erlangen, Germany) received high marks from users who covered its various features during the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting.

Philadelphia—The astigmatism induced by conductive keratoplasty (CK) can be minimized by obtaining better centration of the corneal template mark around the pupil.

New Orleans—Incorporating higher-order aberrations (HOAs) into LASIK treatment performed with aspherically optimized profiles using the MEL80 excimer laser (Carl Zeiss Meditec) increases treatment benefit without compromising refractive accuracy, said Dan Z. Reinstein, MD, MA (Cantab), FRCSC, at the ISRS subspecialty day meeting.

New Orleans—Joshua D. Stein, MD, MS, of Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital (MEETH), was named the winner of the second annual Ophthalmology Times Resident Writer's Award Program. The program was presented and sponsored by Advanced Medical Optics (AMO).

Joshua D. Stein, MD, MS, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University with a double major in neuroscience and behavior and psychology. He then attended the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth Medical School and received a Master of Science degree. From there, he went on to Jefferson Medical College and obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree. Dr. Stein is currently a chief resident in ophthalmology in the New York University School of Medicine/Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital (MEETH) residency program, and will pursue a fellowship in glaucoma at Duke University next year. Dr. Stein is a prolific researcher and investigator, having published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and presented his research at many national and international meetings.

Editor's Note: Joshua D. Stein, MD, MS, of New York University School of Medicine and Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital (MEETH), was named the winner of the second annual Ophthalmology Times Resident Writer's Award Program—presented during the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting in New Orleans. Dr. Stein's winning submission is featured here. He was nominated by Laurence T.D. Sperber, MD, the residency program director and clinical associate professor of ophthalmology at New York University School of Medicine and director of the Cornea Service at MEETH in New York.

Fort Worth, TX—Alcon Laboratories Inc. has submitted the third and final reviewable unit of its new drug application (NDA) for anecortave acetate for depot suspension (Retaane) to the FDA.