Low Vision News Recap – November 2014

Below is a compilation of news you can use relating to low vision and eye health in the month of November.

Diagnosing glaucoma by watching your iPad? It could be here sooner than you think.
Washington Post
Imagine being able to determine whether you have a degenerative eye disease such as glaucoma by simply watching a movie or TV show on your iPad. If it sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is. For now. But a new study from researchers in the United Kingdom suggests that, thanks to advances in eye-tracking software, identifying one of world’s leading causes of blindness could someday be as simple as watching a sitcom in your home.

Macular degeneration may respond to new laser therapy
Medical News Today
A new type of laser treatment has the potential to slow progression of age-related macular degeneration – a major cause of vision loss – without damaging the retina.

Tiny implant helps patients see again
KVUE
Zoom in close enough and you can see it ─ a tiny telescope in Leslie Vlonitis’ right eye. Leslie has macular degeneration, which blocks her central vision. She was nearly blind, but now can read a magazine and watch baseball on TV. The telescope is for patients with end-stage, dry macular degeneration. It uses micro-optical technology to magnify images and improve “straight ahead” vision.

Stanford doctors look to stave off vision loss
San Francisco Chronicle
About 10 percent of patients diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration will develop the form of the disease that causes permanent blindness. It’s unclear just how much genetics plays a role, so there’s no definitive way to predict who will progress to that stage or when that would happen. However, it may be not too far away in the future. Researchers at Stanford created an algorithm that predicted whether a particular patient would be likely to develop the form of the disease that causes blindness within less than a year, three years or up to five years. The sooner a doctor can notice changes, the better chance there is to save a patient’s vision.

Patients Missing Out On Low Vision Services
Medscape
Many baby boomers who could benefit from low vision therapy aren’t getting it for a variety reasons, including a lack of a standard definition of low vision and lack of referral to low vision specialists, a new survey shows.

 

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