News

New York-Hypotony maculopathy-damage to the macula caused by clinically significant low IOP-has several causes, including overfiltering blebs, bleb leak, cyclodialysis cleft, and ciliary body effusion/detachment, reported Celso Tello, MD, at the Glaucoma 2004 meeting here.

New York-How do you determine whether a patient identified as having suspected glaucoma has glaucoma or will develop glaucoma? When should you treat a patient? How aggressive should treatment be?

That particular charm that belongs only to New Orleans has lured the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) back to this magical city for its annual meeting.The 2004 meeting is the first joint meeting with the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE).The main meeting will be preceded by 2 days of subspecialty presentations on Friday, Oct. 22 and Saturday, Oct. 23. All subspecialty day events and those of the main conference, Oct. 23 to 26, will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

New York-The 2004 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, given posthumously, honors Charles D. Kelman, MD, for transforming cataract surgery "from a risky and lengthy ordeal (2-week hospital stay) into a safe and quick outpatient procedure that has spared millions of people throughout the world from blindness," as well as for inspiring similar advances in a number of other medical specialties.

New York-The 2004 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, given posthumously, honors Charles D. Kelman, MD, for transforming cataract surgery "from a risky and lengthy ordeal (2-week hospital stay) into a safe and quick outpatient procedure that has spared millions of people throughout the world from blindness," as well as for inspiring similar advances in a number of other medical specialties.

New York-It is not usual for a memorial ceremony to be punctuated by roars of laughter, but the commemoration held here on Sept. 13 for Charles D. Kelman, MD, was as unusual as the man himself. The tribute was as full of the liveliness, enthusiasm, and love that he expressed for everything in his life-from saxophone playing to song composing to helicopter piloting and to his medical and scientific studying that revolutionized ophthalmology.

The [VETS] coalition wants nothing short of surgery by surgeons and said it is dedicated to seeing to it that veterans receive their right to the highest quality of medical care.

Los Angeles-The results from the Los Angeles Latino Eye Study (LALES) demonstrate Latinos suffer high rates of visual impairment and blindnessin association with high prevalencesof several vision-threatening eye diseases that may often go undiagnosed and untreated, said the study's principal investigator Rohit Varma, MD, MPH

There has been a recent trend toward thinner flaps for LASIK to decrease the risk of corneal ectasia following surgery. Other advantages exist as well for patients undergoing thin-flap LASIK.

Lewiston, NY-The Magellan Mapper Corneal Topographer (Nidek) is a valuable new tool for the preoperative evaluation of refractive surgery patients, said Claus M. Fichte, MD.

An off-label use of the CustomCornea procedure (Alcon Laboratories) to re-treat symptomatic eyes of patients who had undergone a previous refractive procedure produces dramatic reductions in visual symptoms, according to James J. Salz, MD.

San Diego-Inducing negative spherical aberration may be desirable after conductive keratoplasty (CK). Results of a study showed that patients with negative spherical aberration after CK met the target refractive error and target vision compared with patients with positive spherical aberration, according to Stephen Pascucci, MD, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.

Emerging lens extraction and implantation technologies have worldwide appeal among ophthalmologists, and at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting, it was evident at an evening symposium conducted by Alcon Laboratories.

Refractive surgeons can achieve better management of incomplete microkeratome cuts and buttonholes following LASIK by recutting a larger flap.

Advanced surface ablation using the MEL 80 laser (ASA80, Carl Zeiss Meditec) showed significant advantages compared with conventional PRK, especially for the recovery of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), pain, and haze formation.

VisiJet Inc. has received FDA approval for its EpiLift System, an ophthalmic surgical device designed for separating corneal tissue.

Investigators at the University of Florence, Florence, Italy, used injections of botulinum toxin into the appropriate muscles of patients who developed diplopia after cataract extraction or refractive surgery and retrospectively evaluated the results.

The IntraLase femtosecond laser (IntraLase) allows less traumatic implantation of micro-thin prescription inserts (Intacs, Addition Technology) compared with the conventional mechanical method of implantation.

-Available scientific information provides ample evidence that bimanual microincision cataract surgery (MICS) is safe and effective, but further study is needed to show whether it is better than the coaxial approach, said Randall J. Olson, MD.