Vision Loss News and Research

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Perceptual learning may hold promise for improving visual functions in people with central vision loss

Perceptual learning techniques may provide a useful new approach to rehabilitation in patients with central vision loss-taking advantage of visual plasticity that persists even in old age, according to a special article in the June issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

28 May 2013

New book proposes ways to help people see better with macular degeneration, low vision

Dr. Randolph C. Kinkade , a Connecticut optometrist and founding member of the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists, has written the Guide for Macular Degeneration Eyeglasses: Low Vision Treatment.

10 May 2013

Massachusetts hospital performs first cornea transplant with pre-loaded donor tissue

The first successful cornea transplant with donor endothelial tissue preloaded by an eye bank has been performed at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston, Mass. Roberto Pineda II, M.D., Director of the Refractive Surgery Service at Mass. Eye and Ear, and an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, recently performed the groundbreaking transplant.

8 May 2013

Ocular tuberculosis presents a diagnostic challenge

Mycobacterial ocular inflammation typically arises without concomitant systemic or pulmonary disease and should be suspected in patients who do not respond to anti-inflammatory therapy.

29 Apr 2013

Acucela begins phase 2b/3 clinical trial of emixustat hydrochloride to treat GA associated with dry AMD

Acucela Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing new treatments for sight threatening eye diseases, today announced that a phase 2b/3 clinical trial investigating emixustat hydrochloride in subjects with geographic atrophy associated with dry age-related macular degeneration has been initiated.

25 Apr 2013

Methodist Hospital will soon have new brain and pituitary tumor treatment center

Brain and pituitary tumor patients will soon have access to a state-of-the-art facility at The Methodist Hospital, a result of a $10 million dollar commitment from a Houston oil executive.

24 Apr 2013

Implant improves vision for patients suffering from macular degeneration

Physicians at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center have become the first in Virginia to successfully implant a telescope in a patient's eye to treat macular degeneration.

16 Apr 2013

New combination therapy could help restore vision

Researchers have discovered that using two kinds of therapy in tandem may be a knockout combo against inherited disorders that cause blindness. While their study focused on man's best friend, the treatment could help restore vision in people, too.

10 Apr 2013

Genes for blood vessel growth in retina are "switched on" by SRF protein

Normal functioning of the eye depends on a proper supply of blood to the retina. Light entering the eye passes through the cornea, the lens, and the vitreous body before reaching the retina, where it stimulates the nerves.

9 Apr 2013

Amakem backs new Chair of Ophthalmology Translational Research at KU Leuven

Amakem NV, a kinase platform company focusing on ophthalmology, today announces it has sponsored a new Chair of Ophthalmology Translational Research at the Catholic University Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium.

8 Apr 2013

DSEK surgical procedure for perfect vision

Since she was a child Sarah Mittler knew exactly what she wanted to do−be a wife and mother. She and her husband, Tom, were living their dream of a life complete with five kids, two dogs and a packed schedule of activities, until Sarah's vision started to deteriorate.

5 Apr 2013

Despite discovery of sight-saving drugs, AMD still causes severe vision loss in older Americans

Age-related macular degeneration continues to be the leading cause of visual impairment in the United States for people over age 65, according to a study recently published online in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

4 Apr 2013

Lund University researchers examine why people suffer vision loss in eye diseases

Using new technology and new approaches, researchers at Lund University in Sweden hope to be able to explain why people suffer vision loss in eye diseases such as retinal detachment and glaucoma.

4 Apr 2013

Study suggests drugs prescribed to lower cholesterol may be effective against macular degeneration

A new study raises the intriguing possibility that drugs prescribed to lower cholesterol may be effective against macular degeneration, a blinding eye disease. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in Americans over 50, shares a common link with atherosclerosis.

3 Apr 2013

Targeting cholesterol metabolism in eye may prevent age-related macular degeneration, says study

Targeting cholesterol metabolism in the eye might help prevent a severe form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the most common causes of blindness in older Americans, according to indications in a study in mice, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

3 Apr 2013

TSRI receives fund to develop new field test for Onchocerciasis

Philanthropist, businessman and community leader John Moores has given The Scripps Research Institute approximately $2 million to fund the development of a new field test for Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, a parasitic infection that affects tens of millions of people in Africa, Latin America and other tropical regions.

21 Mar 2013

Researchers work on stem cell treatments to halt vision loss caused by diabetic retinopathy

Researchers at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute and the Indiana Center for Vascular Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine are on the cusp of perfecting stem cell treatments that would halt - and potentially reverse - vision loss caused by diabetic retinopathy.

13 Mar 2013

Lack of very long chain fatty acids does not cause blindness in children with Stargardt type 3

Vision scientists long have thought that lack of very long chain fatty acids in photoreceptor cells caused blindness in children with Stargardt type 3 retinal degeneration, an incurable eye disease. But researchers at the University of Utah's John A. Moran Eye Center have shown in a new study that lack of these fatty acids does not cause blindness, meaning that the search for the mechanism that robs sight from children with the disease must start anew.

12 Mar 2013

Antibiotic prophylaxis after IVT may be harmful

Researchers are warning against routine antibiotic prophylaxis with intravitreal injection after finding that the practice can increase the antibiotic resistance of ocular surface flora.

6 Mar 2013

Subclinical inflammation predicts macular disease

Levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein predict the risk for age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema, show results of two independent studies published in JAMA Ophthalmology.

27 Feb 2013