The Aye's (Eyes) Have It

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Eye Health / Blindness 02 Sep 2010

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" Eye M.D.s are intent on finding better ways to diagnose and treat glaucoma, a

complex, potentially blinding disease. September's Ophthalmology journal

includes new data from the Rotterdam Study that will help doctors better predict

visual field loss (VFL) in glaucoma patients. Johannes R. Vingerling, MD, PhD,

Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands, and his colleagues followed 6,630

participants for ten years. The patients had optic nerve damage but no VFL when

they joined the study. Ophthalmology is the journal of the American Academy of

Ophthalmology.

" Worldwide, glaucoma is the most frequent cause of preventable blindness, but up

to 80 percent of people who have the disease are unaware of it and so do not

receive treatment that could help save their sight. Primary open angle glaucoma

(POAG) is the most common form of the disease in the United States and many

other countries. Visual field loss is the shrinking of the " scope " of what a

person can see; it usually begins as a loss of side (peripheral) vision in

people who have POAG.

If untreated, POAG causes irreversible blindness. This occurs through

progressive loss of the nerve cells in the eye's retina, which leads to abnormal

changes in the optic nerve. Over time, these changes can reduce the field of

vision (visual field) and also disrupt the transmission of images to the brain's

vision center. " In this patient population, the risk of developing VFL was

related to higher intraocular pressure (pressure within the eye, IOP), older

age, a high level of myopia (nearsightedness), male gender, a family history of

glaucoma, and a higher vertical cup-to-disk ratio (a measurement of the optic

nerve head), " said Dr. Vingerling. His team's data also provide an estimate of

the long-term incidence of VFL in an older, white European population.

Higher IOP often contributes to POAG, and patients with high IOP (a condition

also called ocular hypertension) are carefully monitored by their

ophthalmologists. Eye M.D.s also use the visual field test as a screening

device to identify patients who might be developing glaucoma (or other eye

diseases that affect the visual field) and who need comprehensive eye exams to

determine their exact diagnosis.

Source: American Academy of Ophthalmology

http://tinyurl.com/27nfu7t

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10 Sep 2010.....

" A 15-year old boy ordered a handheld laser pointer online. He wanted it to pop

balloons from a distance and play around with, this included burning holes into

paper cards and his sister's shoes. Doctors from Lucerne Cantonal Hospital,

Lucerne, Switzerland continue explaining in a letter published in the New

England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) what happened when he used the laser pointer

in front of a mirror.

" The teenager wanted to create a " laser show " - he faced the mirror and zapped

laser beams in several directions. Some of the beams hit his eyes and his vision

in both eyes blurred immediately. He did not tell his parents for fear of being

told off or perhaps causing unnecessary alarm, and hoped the vision problems

would go away. Two weeks passed and his eyesight problems continued. The boy

went to see a health care professional. The ophthalmic assessment revealed that

his eyesight had deteriorated so badly in his left eye that he could only count

fingers on a hand at a distance of no more than 3 feet (about 1 meter); his

right eye had 20/50 acuity. "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/200685.php

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05 Oct 2010

" The G.B. Bietti Foundation IRCCS (Research Healthcare Institute), Italy's

leading ophthalmology research facility presided by Professor Stirpe,

announced today the publication of the results from the GREAT study (Glaucoma

Randomized European Assessment Trial) and calls for glaucoma patients to have

regular eye health check-ups, especially if there is a family history of

glaucoma.

" Professor Massimo Bucci, Scientific Director of the Bietti Foundation, notes

that glaucoma is characterised by the irreversible loss of optic nerve cells

which can result in gradual deterioration in visual field. Alarmingly, glaucoma

is the second leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide. In the United

States, it affects 2.5 million people over the age of 55 while in Europe it

affects a 2-4% of the population over the age of 40. Sadly, the progress of the

disease is practically asymptomatic until the more advanced stages, when

treatment is ineffective. This is why glaucoma has been called " the silent thief

of sight " .

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/203408.php

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FYI,

Lottie Duthu