Rates of eye disease and vision impairment among older black  Americans are two times higher than for older whites, particularly for glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, due in part to less access to proper medical care, according to an announcement from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

With a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the university created the Translational Research Center (TRC) that will work with Cooper Green Mercy Hospital/Jefferson Health System to find ways to remove barriers to eye health care.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:15 AM EDT
Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post

The state of Maine  surprised eye care providers when it raised its MaineCare dispensing fee to $14.40,  less than half what other states pay, reports the Portland PressHerald. To help children, "Portland school officials have raised more than $4,000 for a fund" to buy glasses for as many as 500 students who cannot afford them. The Portland Regional Chamber raised $1,000. Maine is not the only state in financial crisis and looking to  cut costs, including Medicaid coverage.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 7:19 AM EDT
Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post

TheStar, a New Zealand newspaper, reported that avoidable blindness had to be included in the broader development agenda to receive the necessary attention from policymakers, according to speakers at the World Congress on Refractive Error. Almost 700 million people in the world are vision impaired. Why? They can't get an eye exam or glasses. The World Health Organization has noted that the world economy annually loses $269 billion in productivity because of correctable myopia. 

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 5:19 AM EDT
Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post

"Researchers from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research's Genetics and Population Health Division have tapped into data collected from more than 1,000 sets of twins to discover genes that affect people's eyesight," according to a story posted on MiVision.

The website also reports: "A new imaging system using six different wavelengths to illuminate the interior of the eyeball (ocular fundus) may pave the way for optometrists and ophthalmologists to easily screen patients for common diseases of the eye, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy." The system is described in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:56 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, 18 September 2010 7:01 AM EDT
Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post

The American Optometric Association's (AOA) annual American Eye-Q® survey shows that men and women see and treat vision health differently. For example, almost three-quarters of women suffer from seasonal eye allergies, compared to only two-thirds of the men surveyed. The report adds, "Surprisingly though, more men (16 percent) than women (9 percent) have missed work because of seasonal eye allergies."

Thirty-five percent of women (compared to 28 percent for men) check for UV protection when purchasing sunglasses. The survey also showed that "more men (36 percent) than women (27 percent) mistakenly believe name-brand sunglasses are better for your eyes and offer more protection than generic or less expensive sunglasses."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 5:58 AM EDT
Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post

"Eyeglasses that failed ballistic tests four years ago are available in Self Service Supply Centers, and the Army wants them off the shelves now. What’s more, the Army is warning soldiers against wearing the inferior glasses. All Army Action Message calls on the supply centers to stop stocking and issuing Pyramex Venture II glasses, national stock number 4240-01-500-6173, and directs commanders to ensure their personnel are wearing Army-approved eyewear." That's a story from ArmyTimes.

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 5:50 AM EDT
Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post

A story posted by 3news says that "a complaint about a website advertisement for contact lenses wrongly claiming approval by optometrists has been upheld by the New Zealand's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). L Frederikson of the New Zealand Association of Optometrists (NZAO) complained about claims made by Luxottica Retail NZ on its Contacts2Go website, saying they contained errors in fact and were misleading."

Optometrists in New Zealand objected to the phrase on the home webpage saying "Optometrist Approved" and the body of the ad that stated Contacts2Go has been approved by optometrists.

The story noted that "the ASA said there was a high standard of social responsibility expected in the advertising of therapeutic products and the ad failed to meet those standards, so breached the therapeutic products advertising code."

Posted by ct3/opticalceu at 6:52 AM EDT
Post Comment | Permalink | Share This Post