Scientists have discovered a cause of glaucoma that could lead to eventually to an eye drop that cures the illness. Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in the U.S. Until now, scientists haven’t understood the root of the illness, so a cure hasn’t been found. In glaucoma, pressure builds up because of poor drainage… Continue reading A Cure for Glaucoma?
Tag: Vision Health
The Healthy-Vision Plan
Although we don’t worry as much about eye health as we do about, say, heart disease, it’s still crucial to look after our vision, especially as we grow older. The SeniorHealth division of the National Institutes of Health suggests doing the following to help your sight stay as sharp as possible: Eat a Healthy Diet… Continue reading The Healthy-Vision Plan
Vision Loss Increases Risk of Death
Vision loss can adversely affect the ability of older adults to perform instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), such as using the telephone, shopping and doing housework, which are all measures of an individual’s ability to live independently, and that subsequently increases the risk for death. That is the conclusion of Sharon L. Christ, Ph.D., of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., and colleagues. The study was published online August 21st 2014 in JAMA Ophthalmology.
“Seeing’” Through Virtual Touch
Surprising results from University of Cincinnati research could lead to new ways to help the visually impaired better navigate everyday life. Visual impairment comes in many forms, and it’s on the rise in America. The University of Cincinnati experiment aimed at this diverse and growing population could spark development of advanced tools to help all the aging baby boomers, injured veterans, diabetics, and white-cane-wielding pedestrians navigate the blurred edges of everyday life.
How to Know You Need Bifocals or Progressives
A gradual loss of the ability to see well up close is a natural part of aging. The condition is called presbyopia, from the Greek for “elder eye”. If you already wear glasses or contact lenses for distance vision because you have myopia, the medical term for nearsighted, you’ll need to switch to a new prescription. Options include bifocals, vari-focals, and progressives. For contacts, you could also choose monovision in which one eye is corrected for distance and the other is corrected for close work.
A Computer That Can “See” You
Someday, your computer may have “glasses” to help you see the screen – not the other way around, according to researchers developing the technology.
Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, are developing computer models to compensate for a person’s visual impairment. When fully developed, these vision-correcting displays enable users to see words and pictures on a screen clearly without eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Study: AMD Isn’t Always Age-Related
Age-related macular degeneration, until now seen as a condition of people in their 50s and beyond, is more prevalent in younger people than previously thought, according to new statistics.
The findings comes from researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. The investigators found that just under 4 percent of 35- to 44-year-old people in their study were affected by AMD.
The illness is the most common cause of visual impairment and blindness in industrialized countries.
AMD: Omega-3 Stops Unwanted Blood Vessel Growth
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is characterized blood vessel growth, is the primary cause of blindness in the elderly in industrialized countries. The prevalence of the disease is projected to increase 50% by the year 2020. There is an urgent need for new pharmacological interventions for the treatment and prevention of AMD.
No More Eye Drops for Glaucoma
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the Singapore Eye Research Institute have jointly developed a new nanomedicine, liposomal latanoprost, that will allow glaucoma patients to do away with daily eye drops. The nanomedicine is delivered to the front of the eye via a painless injection and will stay and release the anti-glaucoma drugs slowly over the next six months.
Five Crucial Questions About Cataracts
Cataract is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. Approximately 24.5 million Americans have the lens-clouding eye condition, and the incidence is set to grow by 50 percent by 2020. If they’re not treated through a change in eyeglass prescription or surgery, cataracts can increase the risk of permanent blindness.
A Cheaper But Effective Eye-Disease Drug
Eye doctors could save billions in health-care costs if they prescribed a less expensive but effective drug to treat two common forms of serious eye disease in older adults.
Researchers from the University of Michigan focused on two medicines used to treat the wet form of macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema.
Toward a Cure for Dry Eye
Dry eye syndrome, a condition that is especially prevalent in women as they age, happens when the quantity of tears is no longer sufficient to lubricate the eyes. A burning sensation is typical and impaired vision including damage to the cornea may result. In search of a cure, researchers led by Kara Maki Ph.D. at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Mathematical Sciences in New York are testing computer simulations that map the way tears move across the surface of the eye. The study was published on May 6th 2014 in the journal Physics of Fluids.
Glaucoma Patients Not Always Using Eye Drops
Electronic monitoring to measure medication adherence by patients with glaucoma documented that a sizable number of patients did not regularly use the eye drops prescribed to them, according to two studies published in May 2014 in JAMA Ophthalmology. The research was led by Michael V. Boland, M.D., Ph.D., of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
Plugging Blood Vessels to Save Vision
The growth of malformed blood vessels that can burst is a leading cause of vision loss in North America. Retinopathy and retina degeneration are associated with premature birth, with diabetes, and with increasing age. Now a new drug approach has been developed by a research team led by Dr. Andras Nagy at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto for safer clean-up of deformed blood vessels in the eye. The study was published in May 2014 in EMBO Molecular Medicine.
AMD Patients May Not Need Monthly Injections
Here’s good news if you suffer from age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of severe vision loss among people 50 years of age or older in industrialized countries. A team of researchers at Miguel Servet University Hospital in Zaragoza, Spain and the University of Toronto in Canada have found that, contrary to previous clinical trial findings, monthly injections to counteract AMD may not be necessary. The study was in May 2014 presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in Orlando, Florida..
A Dry-Eye Discovery
Researchers are working toward an understanding of the distribution of tears in the eye, and the discoveries they’re making could lead to better treatment or even a cure for dry eye disease.
The newest study was published in the journal Physics of Fluids.
Dry eye disease afflicts millions of people worldwide, with symptoms such as pain, dryness, redness, reduced visual sharpness, and feelings of grittiness. Eye drops can help, but over time, dry can damage the cornea and lead to permanent reduced vision.
Coffee May Prevent Retinal Damage
Here’s one more reason to enjoy your morning coffee: A study done at Cornell University and published in the May 2014 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistryfound that drinking a cup of joe every day may prevent retinal degeneration, a leading cause of blindness due to glaucoma, aging, and diabetes.
Abnormal “Binocular Vision” as We Age
Abnormal “binocular vision”, which involves the way our eyes work together as a team, increases dramatically as we age, according to research from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. A release from the university reports that the study also found that general health and antidepressant use are also linked to this disorder, which affects depth perception and therefore may increase the risk of falls.