News

Wantagh, NY-Because of its ability to halt the allergic cascade, its long duration of action, and rapid relief of itching, nedocromil sodium ophthalmic solution 2% (Alocril, Allergan) is an excellent choice for the treatment of chronic allergic conjunctivitis, according to Jodi Luchs, MD, a private practitioner at South Shore Eye Care, Wantagh, NY.

Chicago—Ketotifen fumarate 0.025% ophthalmic solution (Zaditor, Novartis) offers rapid-onset, long-lasting relief of allergy-associated itching along with excellent local tolerability and a long-standing record of safety. Those features combined make it an outstanding therapeutic choice for all patients with allergic conjunctivitis and a particularly attractive option for the pediatric population, said Kimberlee M. Curnyn, MD.

Carlsbad, CA—The mast cell stabilizer pemirolast potassium ophthalmic solution 0.1% (Alamast, Santen Inc.) can be an effective immediate and long-term treatment for ocular surface allergies because of its inhibitory properties as well as its safety profile, suggested Bill G. Bell, MD, an ophthalmologist in private practice in Carlsbad, CA.

Manhasset, NY—In a head-to-head clinical study, olopatadine (Patanol, Alcon Laboratories) demonstrated statistically significant superiority over epinastine (Elestat, Allergan) for relief of itching, redness, and chemosis associated with allergic conjunctivitis, according to Peter D'Arienzo, MD.

Every patient should undergo at least screening confrontation visual field testing.

Dublin, Ireland—An Irish biotechnology company is hoping recombinant microplasmin will simplify vitrectomy in patients with vitreoretinal disorders.

Buford, GA—Patients are being enrolled into a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and feasibility of the TheraSight Ocular Brachytherapy System for treatment of subfoveal choroidal neovascularization associated with wet age-related macular degeneration.

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.

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.

Rochester, NY—An enhanced fitting guide approved recently for Bausch & Lomb's orthokeratology treatment (Vision Shaping Treatment) helps to fit patients with a custom lens that eliminates patients' need for daytime eyeglasses, contact lenses, or surgery.

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.