Lehigh Valley Center For Sight

We all know how important it is to eat right, exercise regularly and get enough sleep. But, it’s also important to see your doctor for an annual checkup. Routine medical visits can help doctors diagnose and treat serious medical conditions. Some serious medical conditions can lead to vision loss, and if they’re detected early enough, your doctor can help manage or treat the condition. Below you’ll find the most common health conditions that can lead to vision loss and risk factors to watch for. Diabetic Retinopathy According to the American Diabetes Association , living with diabetes can put you at risk for developing diabetic retinopathy. This occurs when blood vessels in the retina become swollen or leak when blood sugar levels are too high. In severe cases, new blood vessels can form and create scar tissue which blocks vision. Monitoring your blood sugar and blood pressure levels can help prevent retinopathy. Cataracts If your vision is blurry, you could be suffering from catar...

As winter shifts to spring, and flowers, grasses and trees begin to bloom, spring can take a toll on your eyes if you suffer from seasonal allergies. The spring season has a marked increase in pollen and allergens in the air, resulting in symptoms for allergy sufferers. What are allergies? According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America , an allergy occurs when the body’s immune system sees a substance as harmful and overreacts to it. The substances that cause allergic reactions are called allergens. When someone has allergies, their immune system responds, resulting in an allergic reaction. What can you do when you are suffering from eye allergies? By making some minor changes to your environment and activities, you can significantly reduce the amount of allergens you come in contact with, and lessen the symptoms you’re experiencing. Stay Inside. Keep your windows in your home and car closed. This will help to keep your surroundings clean during high pollen seasons. You...

It’s no secret, your body goes through some major changes during pregnancy. A lesser known fact is some expecting women experience vision changes pre-and post-partum. How come my vision changed after I had a baby? Approximately 20 percent of women experience this, according to Arian Fartash, OD. “The reason is because a lot of hormone changes go on when you’re pregnant.” Hormones play a significant role in fluid retention so when estrogen levels are elevated, women tend to retain more water than usual. Just as many women will experience swollen feet, your eyes can swell too which could cause vision changes. The fluid retention can change the shape of the cornea which changes the way light passes through the eye, distorting one’s vision. “It starts at the beginning of pregnancy, when your hormones are going all over the place,” said Dr. Fartash. Your vision may return to normal once the hormones level out, but you could also experience the change permanently. Dr. Fartash explains...

Most adults can remember a time from their childhoods where they observed another child wearing a pirate-like eye patch – and not at Halloween. In fact, maybe they were the child wearing the eye patch. Whether the child was the observer or the wearer, the chances are that the eye patch was worn to treat what is colloquially called “lazy eye,” a condition known to medical specialists as amblyopia where one eye is weaker than the other. Amblyopia occurs in about 3 percent of children and has traditionally been treated by “patching,” or covering the stronger eye with a patch in order to encourage the weaker eye to work harder and thus to gain greater eye-brain connection. Though patching is an effective treatment, compliance can be a major issue. And even if children are perfectly compliant, in the process of treating a visual problem, patching may bring with it emotional and social problems; namely,  through self-consciousness a child may feel or bullying the child may receive for we...

Dr. Christopher Brittain, Genentech medical director, discusses his company’s port delivery system, a tiny capsule implanted into the eye, for delivery of Lucentis® over a period of a few months. The device is currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial. The image below shows the port implanted into an eye. https://www.lvcenter4sight.com/arvo-2018-port-delivery-system-designed-to-reduce-burden-of-lucentis-injections-for-wet-amd/

Moms are often the chief medical officers of their households and the first line of defense when it comes to their family’s health. They are on call 24 hours, through every stage of life, and most of it goes unacknowledged because they make it look so easy. To mothers of all kinds, thank you for doing the hardest job in the world. Thank you for working tirelessly to care for others day after day, for never giving up on those who look up to you, and for understanding the powerful connection a mother figure can have in a person’s life. Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Lehigh Valley Center For Sight. https://www.lvcenter4sight.com/mothers-day-we-see-you-mom/

Dr. Henry Klassen, jCyte co-founder and investigator at UC Irvine, provides an update in the video below on the clinical trials for an RP therapy derived from stem cells.   https://www.lvcenter4sight.com/arvo-2018-dr-henry-klassen-provides-update-on-jcyte-stem-cell-trials/

After presenting a poster on a new mutation in the RP gene KIF3B at the ARVO meeting in Honolulu, FFB-funded geneticist Dr. Stephen Daiger discusses the progress that’s been made in genetic testing for people with inherited retinal conditions.   https://www.lvcenter4sight.com/arvo-2018-dr-stephen-daiger-reports-on-the-state-of-genetic-testing-for-inherited-retinal-diseases/

When you think of the life span of a pair of glasses, there are likely two scenarios that pop into mind. Perhaps your prescription changed or maybe they broke. But say you’re amazing at caring for your glasses and your doctor says you don’t have changes to your vision that require you to get a new prescription, there is still an important aspect of your glasses you should keep up to date—your lenses. Do lens coatings or additions break down over time? “Coatings, just like anything else in the world has wear and tear, and they’re not going to last forever,” said VSP network doctor Nichole Moos, OD. Wait, what’s a coating and why do I need it? Coatings and additions, also known as lens enhancements , are an optional feature for your prescription lenses that are designed to improve your overall experience with your glasses. Not only do they help with glare and providing comfortable vision, they can protect your lenses from visible scratches that reduce your ability to see. They can a...

What You Should Know Before Heading To The Salon. Eyelash extensions are individual lashes, made of a synthetic fiber such as nylon, which a professional aesthetician glues one by one to each of your top lashes. Using long, pointed tweezers, the tech brushes a single synthetic lash in a dab of adhesive. With another pair of tweezers, she separates the natural lashes to isolate just one. Then the synthetic lash is placed on the natural lash, holding it for a few seconds while the glue bonds. The tech repeats the process, one lash at a time, attaching 40 to 100 lashes per eye. The tech will use several lengths of lashes, attaching the longest artificial lashes to your longest natural lashes. The expected outcome is a dramatic, lush look, so some consumers are surprised when faced with side effects they hadn’t bargained for. Recently, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) has warned of these dangers associated with eyelash extensions: Irritation and redness. Inflammation and s...

FFB’s own Dr. Steve Rose, chief scientific officer, reviews our commitment to funding and exploring CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing for inherited retinal disease in the video below. FFB currently funds CRISPR/Cas9 projects at four institutions: Johns Hopkins University (retinitis pigmentosa caused by the P23H mutation in RHO) Columbia University (RP caused by the D190N mutation in RHO) Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (RP caused by a mutation in RP1) UCLA (Usher syndrome 1B caused by a mutation in MYO7A) Want to learn more about the benefits of CRISPR/Cas9? Check out: A Cut-and-Paste Approach to Fixing Retinal-Disease Genes   https://www.lvcenter4sight.com/arvo-2018-dr-steve-rose-reports-on-crispr-cas9-for-inherited-retinal-diseases/

Audio version: Several research studies have suggested that the Mediterranean diet (MeDi) – which is rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, cereals, and fish – may be good for your health, including lowering your risk of an early visit from the grim reaper. Known as the EYE-RISK CONSORTIUM , a large international research collaboration found that the MeDi reduced the risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by 39 percent. The researcher’s findings were highlighted in a poster on May 1 at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) in Honolulu. AMD is the leading cause of blindness in people over 55 years of age. The condition affects an estimated 150 million people globally. The researchers analyzed food-frequency questionnaires from nearly 5,000 people, who were participants in two previous investigations – the Rotterdam Study , which evaluated disease risk in the elderly, and the ALIENOR Study , which assessed the associatio...

APR 27, 2018 By Anni Griswold Comprehensive Ophthalmology, Cornea/External Disease, Neuro-Ophthalmology/Orbit, Retina/Vitreous A weekly roundup of ophthalmic news from around the web. Pinterest just rolled out a  new app, designed with visually impaired people in mind . The company spent more than a year reworking its app based on feedback from people with eye conditions ranging from macular degeneration to complete blindness. The new app boasts user-friendly colors and fonts, special markings around buttons and menus, and—most importantly—compatibility with Voice Over and Talk Back. Co. Design This isn’t another scleral tattoo mishap: When a 70-year-old man realized the whites of his eyes had taken on a blue hue , he turned to doctors for help. Eye exams revealed normal vision and no sign of disease. The culprit? An antibiotic called minocycline that he’d been taking for 15 years to treat inflammatory arthritis. His case appeared last week in the New England Journal of Med...

APR 26, 2018 By Anni Griswold Novartis Comprehensive Ophthalmology A new smartphone app lets patients participate in ophthalmology trials without ever stepping foot in a clinic. Novartis’ FocalView app guides patients through self-assessments of visual function and disease activity, streaming large volumes of real-world data directly into researchers’ hands. The app, created using Apple’s ResearchKit platform, aims to dissolve barriers to patient participation by easing the enrollment process, improving compliance and reducing the time and expense of clinical exams. Data capture in traditional ophthalmic clinical trials tends to be “inflexible and infrequent,” Novartis says, so adapting a trial’s design to fit the daily routine of patients could spur participation. If proven effective, FocalView could help uncover key insights about disease manifestation or progression by providing researchers with real-time reports collected over a span of months or years. “Optimizing di...

Patients with dry eye may not significantly benefit from supplementation with fish-derived omega-3 fatty acids, according to findings from a year-long randomized controlled trial. The results, reported earlier this month in The New England Journal of Medicine , are the most reliable and generalizable evidence thus far on omega-3 supplementation for dry eye disease, and goes against what previous trials have shown. These new observations were surprising to many eye care providers that routinely prescribe omega-3s for this condition. “This study is sure to stir up a lot of controversy,” commented Julie Schallhorn, MD, an assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco. Both Dr. Schallhorn and Sumitra S. Khandelwal, MD, an associate professor of ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine, point out that though the DREAM (Dry Eye Assessment and Management) study was rigorous and well executed, the results should be taken in context. “It lo...

In addition to funding sight-saving research, we at FFB work hard to tell the scientific world about it. That’s because knowledge sharing and collaboration are critical to accelerating the advancement of promising therapies. Progress in developing treatments and cures isn’t made in a vacuum. The best opportunity for us to showcase FFB-funded research is at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), which is being held April 29 – May 3 this year in Honolulu. More than 11,000 eye researchers from around the world — including five intrepid members from FFB’s science team — will gather to participate in what is essentially a massive “show and tell” of the latest scientific advancements. This year at ARVO, FFB will have its own, impressive show and tell, highlighting nearly 100 posters and presentations on a variety of topics including: MyRetinaTracker.org (our global patient registry), FFB patient genetic testing program, FFB ProgStar ...

APR 20, 2018 By Kanaga Rajan EBioMedicine Cataract/Anterior Segment, Comprehensive Ophthalmology, Retina/Vitreous, Uveitis Cataract surgery can be safely performed on Ebola survivors, according to a study from scientists at Emory University School of Medicine and their international colleagues. The team systematically assessed the persistence of the Ebola virus in the ocular fluid of survivors and report vision outcomes after cataract surgery. Their study appeared in the April 2018 issue of EBioMedicine. “These findings are truly exciting, as they improve our ability to impact vision care and quality of life for thousands of Ebola survivors at risk for eye disease,” says Steven Yeh, MD, the M. Louise Simpson Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Uveitis and Vitreoretinal Surgery at Emory. Dr. Yeh treated the first known case of ocular Ebola in 2015. His 43-year-old patient, Ian Crozier, MD, an Ebola virus survivor, presented with rapidly declining vision approximately ...

APR 24, 2018 Cataract/Anterior Segment, Refractive Mgmt/Intervention This prospective study examined the tilt and decentration of multifocal IOLs following implantation in myopic eyes. Study design The authors studied 28 myopic (axial length >24.5 D) and 56 emmetropic eyes that underwent phacoemulsification and Tecnis ZMB00 multifocal IOL (Abbott) implantation. Outcomes included tilt and decentration of the IOLs, high-order aberrations and modulation transfer function (MTF), measured using an OPD-Scan III aberrometer. Subjective symptoms were assessed using a questionnaire. Outcomes At 1 year postop, UDVA, CDVA and UNVA did not differ between groups, nor did horizontal decentration or IOL tilt. Vertical decentration, however, was statistically worse in the myopic group. The myopic group also had worse aberration data, poorer MTF and more subjective symptoms than controls. Axial length negatively correlated with vertical decentration. Limitations The study only used the ...

APR 20, 2018 By Anni Griswold Cornea/External Disease, Glaucoma, Retina/Vitreous A weekly roundup of ophthalmic news from around the web. An Instagram model paid the ultimate price to change her eye color from hazel to light grey. Nadinne Bruna, 32, shelled out $3,000 to have silicone plates implanted in front of her iris, but the procedure ended up costing her much more: 80% of vision in her right eye and 50% in her left eye. Daily Mail Glaucoma expert Thomas W. Samuelson, MD, took the reins this month as the 33 rd president of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS). Samuelson is an attending surgeon and founding partner of Minnesota Eye Consultants, and an adjunct professor of ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota. Healio Canadian engineer Marinko Sarunic says his shoebox-sized retinal scanner (shown above) can capture high-resolution, 3-D, cross-sectional images of the tissue in a level of detail that rivals images from much larger s...

  Regenerative Patch Technologies , a company developing stem-cell-derived treatments for people with retinal diseases, has reported encouraging results for the first five patients with advanced, dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) participating in a Phase 1/2a clinical trial for its therapy – a patch comprised of a layer of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells on a synthetic scaffold. The treatment is known as the California Project to Cure Blindness–Retinal Pigment Epithelium 1 (CPCB-RPE1). One patient in the trial had visual acuity improvement of 17 letters (about 3 lines on an eye chart) in her treated eye. Three patients had vision maintained in their treated eyes. Two had improved fixation. One patient did not receive the patch due to debris underneath the retina. No evidence of safety issues with the treatment was observed. The study investigators also reported anatomic improvements in the treated eyes. Imaging showed that the transplanted RPE cells integrated with ...