Category: Eye & Vision Devices

Warnings Against Decorative, Non-Prescription Contact Lenses

decorative contact lenses
Image courtesy of fda.gov

It’s October and Halloween is around the corner and that means that many people are going to want to do something to change their appearance.  This year, wear a great mask instead of trying out decorative contact lenses.

The Food and Drug Administration has issued many warnings against buying illegitimate over-the-counter contact lenses.  Even non-corrective lenses are monitored by the FDA out of concerns for public health.  According to the FDA, “Unauthorized contact lenses of all types present risks to the eye that include corneal ulcers, corneal abrasion, vision impairment, and blindness.”

The American Optometric Association has issued its own warnings.  They caution consumers that using  contacts that are not proscribed by a licensed medical professional can lead to “conjunctivitis, swelling, allergic reaction and corneal abrasion due to poor lens fit.”

For information on natural treatment options for conjunctivitis, visit our website.

It is possible to see an eye doctor to determine if you can safely wear cosmetic contact lenses and to get a proper prescription.

Recycling Medical Instruments: The “Greening” of Ophthalmology

medical technician
Image Courtesy of macombcountymi.gov

European ophthalmologists are jumping on the “green” bandwagon and attempting to develop a program dedicated to the recycling and recovery of surgical instruments.

As single-use surgical instruments grow in popularity, so have environmental concerns as people consider the effect their manufacture and disposal have on the planet.  European fabricator of medical devices, Blink Medical, is working with doctors to help them recycle their equipment.  The company is taking responsibility for the collection, cleaning, and recycling of the instruments at no charge to the physicians.

As the popularity for single-use surgical instruments grows exponentially throughout Europe, concerns have been raised over the impact such devices have on the environment, particularly when it comes to their disposal.

Source: Ocula.info

What’s one way you can make a positive impact on the planet?  Eat organic foods free of the pesticides that can harm our environment and your body.  Consider the many positive health benefits of juicing and get juicing tips at our website. Juicing benefits your eyes and your health in general.

Contact Lens Recall Affects Asian & European Markets

contact lenses
image by Celiece

Johnson & Johnson Vision Care has initiated a voluntary recall of its 1-Day Acuvue TruEye contact lenses made of narafilcon A. According the Associated Press, these lenses were only distributed in Japan and parts of Asia and Europe, according to the AP; 100,000 boxes in total have been recalled.  No consumers in either the U.S. or Canada should be effected (the North American lenses are made of narafilcon B).

The recall is bases on a limited number of user complaints related to a stinging sensation felt when the lenses were placed on the eye.  According to Johnson and Johnson  the problem stems from a malfunctioning manufacturing line in Ireland.

This is the eighth recall of a J & J product in the last year including children’s Tylenol and other cold and pain medications.  The company is currently under investigation by the U.S. Congress.

Source: AP https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gKNufIGxLdxRyZ8TPAzFIe83oA1gD9HPEJA01

Children’s Eye Health: Contact Lenses, Not Glasses May Be Better Option for Kids

kids
Microsoft image

Kids who wear contact lenses rather than glasses enjoy better vision-related quality of life.  A new study published in Optometry and Vision Science reports that in the children who participated in the three year study fared better regarding their feelings about appearance and participation in athletics if they wore contacts.  In particular, children over age 10 experience the greatest improvement in quality of life.

According to Jeffrey J. Walline, O.D, Ph.D., Ohio State University College of Optometry and leader of the Adolescent and Child Health Initiative to Encourage Vision Empowerment (ACHIEVE) Study, “The growing body of research in children’s vision correction continues to demonstrate that contact lenses provide significant benefits to children beyond simply correcting their vision. This study showed considerable improvement for contact lens wearing children 10 years or older in areas of appearance, participation in activities, and satisfaction with vision correction, and it remained or improved over three years.”

Though it is often assumed that glasses are easier to handle than delicate contact lenses, children were happier to work with the contacts than pairs of glasses.  The availability of daily disposable lenses seems to have made the process less troublesome for kids.  It removes the worry over the loss and breakage of eyeglasses.

Researchers “advise parents and eye care practitioners to look beyond the visual benefits” when deciding how to best correct vision problems in children.

This study received partial funding from Johnson and Johnson.

Source: MedicalNewsToday.com

Microchip Implants May Help Restore Lost Vision

Scientists at MIT and other research organizations are testing chip technologies that could help bring eyesight to individuals with conditions like age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

Scientists at MIT and other research organizations are testing chip technologies that could help bring eyesight to individuals with conditions like age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

Microchips place onto or inside the eyeball are assisted by a pair of electronic glasses the patient wears. Results vary, but many subjects report significant improvement in orientation and mobility. MIT hopes to have a device within two years so that they can get FDA approval from for use on chronic patients.

See information on macular degeneration, nutrition and health.

Retinal Device Helps Some With Retinitis Pigmentosa See

More than thirty blind people can now see thanks to new technology that has restored their vision. To date, thirty-eight subjects from the United States, Mexico and Europe with retinitis pigmentosa have received retinal prostheses. While the degree of success has been variable across subjects the results are encouraging.

More than thirty blind people can now see thanks to new technology that has restored their vision. To date, thirty-eight subjects from the United States, Mexico and Europe with retinitis pigmentosa have received retinal prostheses. While the degree of success has been variable across subjects the results are encouraging.

Procedures currently help individuals with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a disease responsible for roughly 200,000 cases of blindness in the United States.

The restoration process starts with an image captured by a small camera attached to a pair of glasses. After streaming through a video processor, the data is then transferred back through the glasses to a tiny electrode “sheet” implanted on the retina. These electrodes use electrical impulses to communicate visual information to undamaged retinal tissue (just as healthy rods and cones would have done). The result is some degree of sight.

Currently the devices have only 60 electrodes, compared to more than 2 million in HD televisions, so images are still rough. Researchers from Second Sight will follow project participants for the next three years to track progress. They hope to develop versions with 200 and 1000 electrodes in the future.

Editor’s Notes: Certain nutrients have been researched as helping to preserve vision for those with Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Retinal Implants Can Restore Some Lost Vision

MIT engineers have designed a retinal implant for people who have lost their vision from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, two of the leading causes of blindness.
The retinal prosthesis would help restore some vision by electrically stimulating the nerve cells that normally carry visual input from the retina to the brain.

MIT engineers have designed a retinal implant for people who have lost their vision from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration, two of the leading causes of blindness.

The retinal prosthesis would help restore some vision by electrically stimulating the nerve cells that normally carry visual input from the retina to the brain.

The chip would not restore normal vision but could help blind people more easily navigate a room or walk down a sidewalk. “Anything that could help them see a little better and let them identify objects and move around a room would be an enormous help,” says Shawn Kelly, a researcher in MIT’s Research Laboratory for Electronics and member of the Boston Retinal Implant Project.

Patients who received the implant would wear a pair of glasses with a camera that sends images to a microchip attached to the eyeball. The glasses also contain a coil that wirelessly transmits power to receiving coils surrounding the eyeball. When the microchip receives visual information, it activates electrodes that stimulate nerve cells in the areas of the retina corresponding to the features of the visual scene. The electrodes directly activate optical nerves that carry signals to the brain, bypassing the damaged layers of retina.

The research team, led by John Wyatt, MIT professor of electrical engineering and computer science, recently reported a new prototype that they hope to start testing in blind patients within the next three years, after some safety refinements are made. Once human trials begin and blind patients can offer feedback on what they’re seeing, the researchers will learn much more about how to configure the algorithm implemented by the chip to produce useful vision.

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
See more information on the latest research on nutrition and vision.

Computerized Glasses Help Vision-Impaired

An Ottawa company is developing computerized glasses to help those with severe visual impairments maximize the vision they have left.

The glasses, which look like an oversize pair of sunglasses, have a high-resolution camera on the outside and tiny LCD screens on the inside that project images to the wearer’s eyes.  The glasses will also zoom in on and replay what has been seen with the press of a button.

The company, eSight Corp., received a $500,000 grant from the Ontario government to develop its evSpex product, and hopes to start commercial production next year.

Before the image is projected, it’s custom-processed by a tiny computer.  “So that when it’s presented to a person who has diseased eyes … it’s presented to the pieces of their vision that are most functional,” said eSight Corp. company president Rob Hilkes.

Because the device continually records a loop of video, the user can save the last 10 seconds of what they saw at the press of a button so they can look again at something that went by too quickly.  The video can be viewed later on a DVD player or computer.   Users can also zoom in on certain things in their field of view

The product is expected to be able to help people with age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa.  In the future, the company hopes to market the technology to people with normal vision as wearable binoculars, night vision goggles or video gaming devices.

SOURCE:  High-tech glasses help the nearly blind see, CBC News, Sept. 11, 2009, https://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/11/ottawa-esight-glasses-technology-company-blind.html

Update – More Technology

Another new technology designed to detect glaucoma earlier may soon be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

According to the press release from the manufacturing company, Paradigm Medical Industries, Inc., the Paramax is moving through the FDA approval process.  This machine is called “the next generation of standard ocular electrophysiology utilized for early glaucoma detection.”  This device has been designed for office use and promises that it requires only 2 minutes to run a diagnostic test.

Source: https://www.paradigm-medical.com/

Learn more about who is at risk for developing 

New device allows the blind to ‘see’ with their tongues

New device allows the blind to ‘see’ with their tongues.

Fascinating work being done at Dr. William Seiple at Lighthouse International in New York City. This device uses a patch that sits on the tongue, and vibrates in different ways depending on what the camera mounted on the glasses picks up. With training, one can “teach” the brain to pick up visual images based on the vibration being received.

This device can an even be used by people who have been blind from birth.

For more information on natural ways to help preserve vision, go to www.naturaleyecare.com

New Contact Lenses Deliver Medication to the Eye

New technology may replace eye drops currently used by people suffering from glaucoma and dry-eye.

Studies have found that a majority of glaucoma patients regularly skip their eye drops, putting themselves at risk for blindness, and that even when drops are used regularly, only a small percentage of the medication tends to be absorbed into the eye.

In an article published in the July issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, scientists announced that they have developed a contact lens that delivers medication to the eye at a constant rate for over 4 weeks. The lenses should not affect the wearer’s vision.

The special lenses were created by dissolving a biodegradable polymer called PLGA in an organic solvent, to which medication was added. After the solvent evaporated, researchers coated the polymer film/medication mix with a hydrogel called pHEMA — the same material used to make regular contact lenses. Researchers believe they can vary the molecular weight of the polymer to change the rate of drug release as needed.

To date the researchers have only tested the diffusion properties of the lens in a lab dish, but expect to be able to test the lenses in humans within a year.

SOURCE: A Drug-Eluting Contact Lens, Ciolino, et al, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science. 2009;50:3346-3352.)