Eye Disease News and Research

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Eye diseases are widespread around the globe. According to the World Health Organization, the most important three eye diseases or conditions that are a potential threat to the global population are diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. One more vital reason for visual harm is refractive errors. Some of the important reasons for vision loss or low vision are age, healthcare, gender, genetic problems and the prevalence of family history.

16-year study links worsening vision to higher dementia risk

Researchers followed 15,576 older adults in Hong Kong for up to 16 years and linked moderate to severe visual impairment to higher dementia risk, with rapid visual decline strengthening the association at poorer levels of vision. They estimated that severe impairment corresponded to 2.1 fewer dementia-free years over the study period, but could not establish that correcting vision prevents dementia.

11 Oct 2026

New framework aims to improve reliability of tear-based health sensors

Dr. Yangzhi Zhu of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI), with collaborators at UC San Diego and USC, published a Nature Sensors perspective on what it will take to turn tear-based wearable sensors into reliable, long-term health-tracking tools.

8 Oct 2026

Experimental drug reverses multiple sclerosis damage in mouse model

A drug developed by a UVA Health scientist has not only stopped but reversed paralysis and vision loss in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.

23 Sep 2026

Norwegian scientists harvest super donor cells to fight diverse diseases

Cells from nine "super donors" are being collected in Oslo. The aim is for these to be used to repair or replace damaged cells, tissue and organs in people suffering from conditions ranging from heart attacks to Parkinson's disease.

16 Sep 2026

Smartphone imaging accurately supports remote cataract referral decisions

Researchers have found a high level of agreement between cataract referral decisions based on smartphone images reviewed remotely and those made by ophthalmologists examining patients in person at rural eye camps.

15 Sep 2026

New molecular pathway explains why eye pressure rises at night

Glaucoma is an eye disease that causes progressive damage to the optic nerve, leading to loss of sight. One major risk factor is an increase in intraocular pressure (IOP), or the pressure inside the eye.

25 Aug 2026

Researchers identify genes that hinder CRISPR editing efficiency

Like a delivery driver navigating crowded city streets, a gene-therapy-toting lipid nanoparticle faces a gauntlet of potential detours on its journey toward a cell's nucleus.

13 Aug 2026

Using AI to improve precision of visual cortical prostheses

Researchers from three institutions, including UC Santa Barbara, have demonstrated that artificial intelligence has the potential to make future visual prostheses, like a bionic eye, more precise, predictable and responsive to an individual user.

7 Aug 2026

Two British birth cohorts find no added health burden from a coastal childhood

Researchers analyzing two British birth cohorts found no association between coastal residence in adolescence and midlife multimorbidity, while an unadjusted association in the 1958 cohort weakened after accounting for neighborhood deprivation.

3 Aug 2026

Cortisone eye drops may reduce blindness in extremely premature babies

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska University Hospital have conducted the first randomized clinical trial in the world to test cortisone eye drops to slow the progression of serious eye disease in extremely premature babies.

3 Aug 2026

Coastal residents more likely to have worse midlife health

People who live by the coast in midlife are more likely to have worse health, finds a new study in England and Wales led by UCL researchers.

30 Jul 2026

Smoking shows no major impact on the eye microbiome in small study

A small study found no evidence that smoking causes large or consistent shifts in the ocular surface microbiome or tear proteome. The authors caution that subtle smoking-related effects cannot be ruled out, given the small cohort and the ocular surface's low-biomass, contamination-sensitive microbial niche.

8 Jul 2026

Study links cardiovascular risk factors to visual impairment in Latinos

In the U.S., Hispanic/Latino populations are disproportionately at risk for eye diseases like glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, or vision loss tied to diabetes.

29 Jun 2026

Doctors find unexpected regional differences in retinopathy of prematurity in Norway

It's a mystery. The eye disease known as retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) can make infants permanently blind if they are not treated. But there are big differences between how often Norwegian hospitals actually provide this treatment.

16 Jun 2026

AI screening tool increases diabetic eye exam referrals for African Americans

In a study exploring how an AI-assisted diagnostic tool shaped care for underserved populations at multiple community-based primary care sites, investigators at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins Medicine found that African American patients with diabetes were more likely to receive a diabetic eye exam referral if screened by an AI tool.

9 Jun 2026

Novel artificial intelligence technology improves eye disease diagnosis

Non-invasive eye scans allow doctors a zoomed-in, three-dimensional look beneath the eye's surface without causing discomfort or pain to the patient.

5 Jun 2026

New eye drop formulation shows promise for dry eye disease

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Okayama University in Japan have developed and tested in mice a promising new eye drop formulation for treating dry eye disease.

21 May 2026

Plant-based eye drops harness photosynthesis to heal dry eyes

What if your eyes could use light to heal themselves? Drawing inspiration from how plants harness sunlight, researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) are pioneering a revolutionary treatment for dry eye disease.

20 May 2026

AI eye scans reveal who may be at higher risk of osteoporosis

RetiAGE, an AI-derived retinal biological age score, was associated with lower bone mineral density and higher fracture risk scores in older Singaporean adults. In the UK Biobank, older retinal biological age also predicted future osteoporosis, suggesting routine retinal imaging could eventually support opportunistic osteoporosis risk screening.

17 May 2026

New AI chip identifies meibomian gland dysfunction within milliseconds

A research team from Peking Union Medical College Hospital and Tsinghua University has developed a compact optical AI chip that can identify meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD)-a major cause of dry eye disease-with more than 96% accuracy by analyzing the tissue's spectral signatures.

11 May 2026