Retina

Optometrists can play key roles in women’s health, especially in macular degeneration and obesity. Include a conversation about cosmetic use in discussions with female patients as well.

We all know the typical algorithm for our patients having diabetes: Maintain healthy blood sugar and pressure control, get annual dilated eye examinations, and receive laser or anti-VEGF therapy if and when they develop vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy (DR).

It’s been a busy week for ophthalmology research and news after both the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting in Seattle and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) annual meeting in New Orleans.

A 33-year-old male attended to University of Alabama at Birmingham Eye Care complaining of blurry vision with either eye at both distance and near. He had a history of spectacle lens wear since childhood but also admitted to losing his glasses in most cases shortly after receiving them.

Many of your patients are interested in maintaining or improving their vision, but they may walk into your office with wrong information.

From new ways of predicting who will and won’t develop diabetes, to new diabetes meds, to new evidence regarding which anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) might be better for your specific patient, the last year has given us better tools for helping our patients with diabetes.

A 27-year-old male whose last eye examination was seven years earlier in India presented to University of Alabama at Birmingham Eye Care for a comprehensive eye examination.

Retinal vascular disease can be difficult to accurately diagnose. There are a myriad of retinal disorders such as retinal phlebitis, retinal arteritis, intraretinal infiltrates, necrotizing retinitis, posterior scleritis, and chorioretinitis that can present with similar findings and complicate the diagnosis.

The area of nutriceutical supplementation for ocular conditions appears to be more contentious than ever. Questions are heatedly argued every day regarding a number of topics, some of which follow. Is this component (nutriceutical) more effective than that component?

Paul Chous, OD, MA, and his scientific team, as published in a recent British Journal of Ophthalmology clinical scientific study, have just raised the bar for public service, professional practice, and fiscal responsibility.

A number of macular conditions either mimic or share characteristic findings of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). These resemblances can result in tough clinical decisions and misdiagnosis. Although genetic testing can be helpful, tests are limited by both their efficacy and accuracy.

The London Project to Cure Blindness announced it successfully performed a surgery to transplant retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) derived from stem cells into a patient suffering from vision loss from wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

A six-year old white male presented for low vision rehabilitation with a history of X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS). He reported blurred vision for a year.

Our sun, modern indoor blue LED lighting, cell phones, and computer displays all emit “bad blue” radiation defined as a wavelength band of 435 nm ± 20 nm.

Optometrists like to think about ocular nutritional supplements in narrow terms, focusing on AREDS2 or the carotenoids’ visual benefits.

Liverpool, UK-The British Contact Lens Association (BCLA) opened the first day of its 2015 conference with a day-long focus on myopia management. Ian Flitcroft, MA DPHIL FRCOPHTH, calls myopia a public health time bomb.

Recently, a colleague wrote me to express his concern about a primary care physician (PCP) in his community acquiring digital retinal photographs of his diabetes patients. One of those patients presented to the optometrist’s office with the impression that “all he needed was a refraction” since the PCP had “already checked him for diabetic retinopathy.”

Many diabetics neglect their eyecare due to not knowing and/or misunderstanding the effects of diabetes to the eyes and visual system. Much of the inadequacies in patient education can be attributed to the absence or insufficient communication among healthcare providers, including optometrists, and our patients.

A 12-year-old Hispanic male was evaluated for fundus appearance at the ocular disease service at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Eye Care.

A central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) represents a true ocular emergency. It is frequently caused by an embolus originating from carotid artery disease secondary to atherosclerotic plaques.

A 76-year-old white female presented for her periodic diabetic eye examination at UAB Eye Care in July 2014. She admitted to blurry vision in her left eye for approximately one week.

A study recently published in Ophthalmology found that nutritional supplements marketed to help treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may not be backed by scientific evidence.

According to a report from GlobalData, the age-related macular degeneration treatment market in the U.S., UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Japan will double in value from $5.1 billion in 2013 to $10.1 billion in 2023.

Check out the biggest retina stories of the year.

Konan Medical recently launched EvokeDx, the next-generation visual pathway diagnostics platform to assess visual evoked potentials (VEP) and electroretinograms (ERG).

Health Canada recently approved Eylea (aflibercept, Regeneron) for the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME).

An article recently published in Current Opinion in Ophthalmology looked to help eyecare practitioners understand the costs of genetic testing in ocular disease, the complexities of insurance coverage, and its impact on the availability of genetic testing.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies’ Implantable Miniature Telescope for use in patients living with bilateral end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD) who are age 65 or older.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology says that close to one-third of the nation's eye physicians and surgeons are participating in the Intelligent Research In Sight (IRIS) Registry, which is the first comprehensive database of eye diseases and conditions in the United States.

According to the National Eye Institute (NEI), 7.7 million people age 40 and older have diabetic retinopathy, and this number is projected to increase to approximately 11 million people by 2030.