Negative Refraction Power Causes Underestimation of Peripapillary Retinal Nerve Fibre Layer Thickness
Topic: Optical
"Measured RNFL thicknesses decreased significantly with soft contact lenses of higher plus dioptres and increased with those of more minus dioptres. This finding was consistent with or without controlling factors including the signal strength and test–retest variability of the machine. Measurement of peripapillary RNFL thicknesses was not varied between scans performed with and without plano contact lenses," reports the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Americans Take Risks with Eye Health
Topic: Eye Care

"Millions of Americans are at risk of losing their vision, according to a new survey from Lighthouse International. Yet most are not doing anything to protect their sight," notes a post on AOLHealth. "Lighthouse's newly released survey shows that even though 82 percent of Americans fear loss of vision more than the loss of any other sense, 86 percent of those at risk for eye disease or who have an eye disease do not obtain annual eye exams."

There's some help. "The American Academy of Ophthalmology and its partners today announced the expansion of a new screening initiative, EyeSmart® EyeCheck, to combat undetected eye disease and visual impairment among at-risk populations in the United States. The free vision screening pilot program will come to Chicago, Miami and San Antonio in 2011 and 2012." 

CL Warning from AOA
Topic: Contact Lenses
For 40 million Americans, using contact lenses to improve vision is a way of life. While a good number adhere to the medical guidelines for wearing contacts, some do not. According to the American Optometric Association's (AOA) annual American Eye-Q® survey, many are breaking the rules and putting their health and vision at risk by doing so.

Cataract Surgery Prevents Car Accidents
Topic: Eye Care
"Cataract surgery not only improves vision and quality of life for older people, but apparently can also help reduce the number of car crashes. The research will be presented today's at the Scientific Program of the 2010 American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) -- Middle East-Africa Council of Ophthalmology (MEACO) Joint Meeting," according to a post on Sys-Con Media.

SEC Football Officials Offered Free Eye Care
Topic: Optical--Sort Of
The Slophouse blog reports: "The old saying goes, “Hey ref, get your eyes checked!” Well, now they have their chance. Fayetteville-based McDonald Eye Associates is taking it upon itself to make sure Arkansas doesn’t have any more questionable officiating. The company said in a release Tuesday it will offer free laser vision surgery to any on-field or replay booth official from Saturday’s Arkansas-Auburn game. The Razorbacks lost 65-43, but a pair of questionable Auburn touchdowns have had Arkansas fans up in arms."

Eye Care Professionals Turn Glum
Topic: Optical
"Following an uptick in August, independent ECPs’ attitudes about business declined in September to be the lowest of the year, according to the latest edition of Jobson Optical Research’s Optical Business Barometer (OBB)," according to a report in VisionMonday. "Compared to the previous month, respondents’ attitudes toward business decreased for September 2010 at an Index of 3.3 compared to the August 3.7 score."

Eye Care Professionals Experiment with Social Media Marketing
Topic: Optical

"Monica Dillon wasn't happy with her eye care provider, so when she saw an online deal for an exam and glasses for $50, she clicked on it," noted a recent post by the BaltimoreSun. "The accountant, who lives in Columbia and works in Washington, doesn't ordinarily get medical care without a recommendation. But the offer was too good to resist — and, as she notes, there would be no surgery or undressing."

 Read how Accuvue used Facebook to market CLs to teenagers.

New ABO/NCLE Group Formed
Topic: Optical
At the end of the recent ABO/NCLE National Education Conference, the organization created the Society For Advanced Opticianry. Its purpose is “to elevate the profession of opticianry through advanced education thus providing a higher level of skill and care.” Pick up more details at VisionMonday.

Sexual Misconduct Sends Optician to Jail
Topic: Optical--Sort Of

The YorkPress, a United Kingdom publication, reported that "an optician who performed a sex act while giving an eye test to a teenage girl has been struck off. Selby man John David Gill was jailed last January for 21 months after being found guilty of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and outraging public decency at his practice in Knottingley.“

Salaries for Opticians
Topic: Optical

 Recently the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported generated the following data about opticians. 

Employment Estimate and Mean Wage Estimates

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
60,840	2.2 %	$16.73	$34,790	0.9 %

Percentile Wage Estimates

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$10.16	$12.54	$15.74	$20.03	$24.31
Annual Wage (2)	$21,120	$26,070	$32,740	$41,660	$50,560

 
 

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment per thousand workers
Connecticut	460	$25.09	$52,180	0.282
Massachusetts	1,550	$23.89	$49,690	0.490
New Jersey	1,350	$23.62	$49,130	0.350
Virginia	1,880	$22.37	$46,540	0.524
New York	2,920	$22.09	$45,940	0.343

Marketing Coup for Oakley
Topic: Sunglasses
The Financial Post reports that "in deciding to donate the US$180 sunglasses to protect the delicate eyes of emerging miners who were trapped underground for 69 days, the athletic eyewear outfitter  [Oakley] has scored a branding coup worth an estimated US$41-million in exposure, according to research firm Front Row Analytics."

More Children Getting CLs
Topic: Contact Lenses
"More than half of optometrists introduce soft contact lenses to children between the ages of 10 and 12 years, according to a press release from the American Optometric Association, reports OSNSuperSite. "Of the 576 optometrists who participated in the Children & Contact Lenses study, 71% said they prescribe contact lenses to children 10 to 12 years old as a secondary method of vision correction. Daily disposable lenses are the most frequently prescribed contacts for this age group. In addition, 21% of respondents said they are more likely to fit children in this age group with lenses than they were a year ago." You can also click this link for more.

Ciba Vision in UK Recalling CLs
Topic: Contact Lenses
"Ciba Vision is recalling lots of its Softperm contact lenses over safety fears, it has been revealed," reports ContactLenses.Co.UK. "The contact lens manufacturer announced that, following concerns that the product is not sterile and could cause eye infections, it is recalling certain batches while an investigation takes place. According to the company, any lots supplied after March 13th last year may be affected and retailers and consumers have been advised to return them to the firm."

New Health Care Affecting Everyone
Topic: Insurance

Every American will feel the impact of the changes in the health care laws. For example, the Heritage Foundation claims that "the outlook for seniors’ Medicare Advantage (MA) plans is grim under the new health care law. Though seniors’ premiums will drop 1 percent in the new year, this will be the exception to the rule over the next decade."

Then a post on NYTimes notes "the biggest changes arrive this year courtesy of the new health care law. The new rules require employers to extend health insurance coverage to uninsured dependents up to age 26, eliminate any lifetime caps on coverage, and pay 100 percent of the cost of annual physicals and some other preventive care. Plans that don’t significantly change their cost and coverage structures will be exempt from the preventive care requirements. But for the most part, rising health costs will force employers to alter their plans, if only to shift more of the burden to employees. The new requirements and complicated new options will make selecting the right insurance plan perhaps more daunting than ever."

 

Faced with Competition, Canadian Opticians Rebrand
Topic: Optical
"Canada's opticians, squeezed between their professional rivals — optometrists — and non-professional fly-by-night and online dispensaries are setting out to carve a larger niche in the vision-care business," reports CBC News. "The Opticians Council of Canada launched a national public awareness campaign Friday, which includes television ads and a website aimed at steering consumers to licensed opticians. 'We're calling ourselves "vision architects,"' explained [Janice] Schmidt, a former chair of the OCC and co-ordinator of the optician program at Georgian College in Barrie, Ont. 'We're the ones that will design the eyewear, design the lens that is going to go into the frame.'" Should American opticians do the same?

IRC Provides Eyecare to the World's Refugees
Topic: Eye Care
"Since 1997, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has helped hundreds of thousands of visually impaired refugees and other victims of war restore their vision through a unique program that offers free glasses and access to eye surgery. The IRC’s Peter Biro reports from northwestern Thailand, where the IRC recently distributed its 100,000th pair of eyeglasses,"  reports the IRC website.

Chilean Miners Come Out Wearing Oakleys
Topic: Sunglasses
"The emergence of the last miner from 69 days from beneath the Atacama Desert in Chile came after a 24-hour vigil by people glued to televisions and computer monitors around the world," wrote CNN. Each miner was wearing a pair of Oakley sunglasses. CNN continued: "As Oakley says on their website: The rescue team in Chile is relying on Oakley eyewear to protect the miners’ eyes when they are brought back to the surface. A few weeks ago, Oakley was approached by a Chilean journalist who was covering the rescue efforts and had recommended Oakley to the Chilean private health insurer, known as ACHS 'Association Chilena de Seguridad,' for eyewear protection for the miners once they surfaced."

Reminder Warning about Decorative CLs
Topic: Contact Lenses
Every year, the approach of Halloween heightens fears at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that consumers will harm their eyes with unapproved decorative contact lenses. "Although unauthorized use of decorative contact lenses is a concern year-round, Halloween is the time when people may be inclined to use them, perhaps as costume accessories," says James Saviola, the Ophthalmic and Ear, Nose and Throat Devices network leader in FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. You might want to remind your patients with a poster, flyer, or email message. You can create one with the PDF from the FDA at this site.

Giving Back as World Sight Day Approaches -- Tomorrow
Topic: Eye Care
World Sight Day is tomorrow, but each day eye care providers around the world are helping individuals. Here are a few examples:

• The GattonStar reports that "optometrist Anita Salter of Eyecare Plus Gatton, is taking the World Sight Day Challenge....On World Sight Day, ... Anita will donate her eye exam fees to help provide eye exams and glasses to children who can't see to learn at school and adults who can't see to provide for their families.
• "It takes a lot of work for Monique Pilkington to sort out the logistics of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) Medical Mobile Eye Care Clinic’s yearly tour of northern Ontario," notes NorthernLife.ca. Pilkington must ... "ensure two nurses are trained to drive the transport truck containing a mini-ophthalmologist’s office, recruit ophthalmologists to work in the eye van and co-ordinate with local Lions Club members, who act as hosts in the various communities the program visits. ...The eye van serves about 5,000 people each year in 30 communities, providing vision screening, treatment of eye conditions and minor surgery."
• Optometry Giving Sight, the organizer of the World Sight Day Challenge, funds programs that train local eye care professionals and develop vision centers which provide permanent vision care to  people in desperate need. That need increases annually.
• "The world is suffering a global eye care crisis according to world leaders in vision health and development who attended the World Congress on Refractive Error in Durban, South Africa." The KansisCityStar posted the following: "A staggering 670 million are avoidably blind or vision impaired because they don't have simple vision correction (spectacles) that could be provided at a relatively low cost, reports leading advocate, Professor Brien Holden, CEO of the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE). 'The cost of not providing eye care services to those in need is well in excess of approximately $US269 billion per annum, just in lost productivity. The sad part is, the numbers affected by uncorrected vision problems will only rise if we don't recognise it and take action,' he told the congress."

 

Nike Giveaway for Eye Care
Topic: Eye Care
Do you sell Nike eyewear? If yes, think of referring your customers to SeeMuchMore.com  maintained by VSP Vision Care and Nike, according to a posting on ThatsFit. "The folks at VSP Vision Care, who specialize in personalized eye care programs for millions of people in the U.S., want to bring attention to the importance of keeping an eye on your vision, and to do so, they've teamed up with That's Fit to give away a $250 Nike gift card to be used toward protective eyewear or the Nike product(s) of the winner's choice! The gift card can be redeemed both in Nike stores and online."