Articles

Hyperaemia is one of the main reasons why patients with glaucoma do not comply with or persist with their topical therapeutic regimen.

A new hypothesis about the development of AMD points to a role of age-depleted steroidal hormones. An ophthalmologist discusses the evidence supporting this idea.

Participants in a survey showed low awareness that this option was available for patients with glaucoma.

For now, the most effective way to prevent or manage diabetic retinopathy is taking a proactive approach to controlling blood glucose levels and hypertension in patients.

A proprietary phacoemulsification system featuring fluidics control software that allows automatic switching from longitudinal ultrasound to transversal on recognition of occulsion and back again to longitudinal on occlusion break.

A new bimanual capsulorhexis technique, suing a specially developed instrument allowing a tri-dimensional, sub 1mm capsulorhexis with improved maintenance of the anterior chamber.

In the second of a two-part article Dr David Tanzer says that in today's US Navy the preferred refractive procedure today is wavefront-guided LASIK with a thin flap made with a femtosecond laser.

The fusion of imaging technology for today and tomorrow to assess your patient's retinal health

The German-based company VRmagic has introduced an augmented reality simulator for the training of binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy.

Reports presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) conference suggest that doctors may be able to assist in predicting Alzheimer's disease.

“It is time for paediatric ophthalmologists to reassess how best to screen and treat their smallest, frailest patients,” said Dr. John Flynn of Columbia University School of Medicine, speaking at the Paediatric Ophthalmology symposium, being held alongside the AAO in San Francisco.

Allergan Inc. has won a ruling in federal court that its patents on Alphagan, which lowers pressure in the eye in patients with open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension, were infringed.

STAAR Surgical Company has reported that the Collamer Accommodating Study Team (CAST) formed by the company in late 2008 has provided very promising initial patient vision assessments from the first phase of the project.

Real-time biomedical studies of factors leading to vision impairment are now possible through one of the world's largest ocular research centre at Lions Eye Institute for Transplant & Research.

In Ophthalmology V Borderie et al., analyze graft survival and the outcome of the corneal endothelium after corneal transplantation in a single model to predict the long-term prognosis of these grafts

Two Phase III studies of Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) in macular oedema due to retinal vein occlusion (RVO), have shown, on average, patients given either of two doses of Lucentis had a clinically and statistically significant improvement in vision as measured by the primary endpoint of mean change from baseline in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at six months compared to patients receiving sham injections. Results from both trials were presented at the Retina Congress 2009 meeting.

According to M Rekas et al., in The Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery torsional phacoemulsification was found to be more effective than longitudinal phacoemulsification in the amount of applied fluid and the quantity of US energy expended.

Investigators from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and the VA Boston Healthcare System have shown, at 6 months in a small group of patients, that there is no difference in efficacy between Bevacizumab (Avastin) and Ranibizumab (Lucentis) for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

According to the Review of OphthalmologyRefinements in tools and technique are leading to better outcomes, fewer complications and promising new versions of the surgery.

Bausch & Lomb, has acquired the commercial assets of Italian ophthalmic pharmaceuticals business, Tubilux Pharma S.p.A, which markets proprietary, over-the-counter and branded generic products.

A new phaco tip (Fine Ozil Tip, MicroSurgical Technology) for use with a proprietary handpiece (Ozil, Alcon Laboratories) improves the safety and efficiency of phacoemulsification using torsional ultrasound with a biaxial microincisional technique. Modification of the phaco parameters improves chopping and segment removal.

Dr Stephen Lane believes that the large variety of available ophthalmic viscosurgical devices now allows the surgeon to tailor the surgery to meet any specific needs a patient may have.

Anti-VEGF monotherapy appears to be an effective treatment for retinal angiomatous proliferation, according to results of a small, retrospective chart review. Although the results indicate that in most cases repeated injections would be needed to achieve improvement of stable vision, treatment based on ocular coherence tomography-confirmed presence of fluid could achieve outcomes similar to monthly injections.

Dr Anand Vinekar descibes how tele-ophthalmology models for ROP can be used in developing countries, using a successful Indian programme as a case study.

An ophthalmic viscosurgical device is a helpful adjuvant in a multimodal approach for performing cataract surgery in patients with intraoperative floppy iris syndrome, according to three surgeons.

Diagnosing and managing dry eye patients can be challenging. Here Dr Philipp Steven looks at a new way of treating tear film osmolarity, the TearLab Osmolarity System, which he believes could dramatically simplify the process.

A review of more than 20,000 glaucoma patients in Germany has discovered that 52.6% have a concomitant diagnosis of dry eye with women more likely to have both diseases than men.

Dr Randolph Evans argues that endocyclophotocoagulation (ECP) is a simple, safe and effective procedure for achieving IOP lowering in patients with medically controlled glaucoma who also require cataract surgery

Myopia is a worldwide public health problem and the underlying mechanisms of its development are still unclear. Currently the key challenge is to attract, train and retain young researchers to the field. The European Research Training Network 'MY EUROPIA' adresses these urgent challenges, by innovative and attractive training and networking possibilities and by the establishment of closer private-public partnership links.

Dr David Tanzer explains that in order to achieve the best possible post-operative results with laser vision correction, thorough pre-operative examinations are a must. Patients should be carefully screened, comprehensive clinical work-ups must be carried out and detailed informed consent given. Then, and only then, will surgeons achieve the best results.