RI Teenager Gets Infection from Decorative CLs
Topic: Contact Lenses

Despite the warning from optical groups and the FDA, which appeared on scores of websites and in scores of newspapers, a Rhode Island teenager still purchased decorative CLs. Here's the beginning of the story that appeared on the Providence Journal's website, Projo: "A high school student developed severe eye problems after illegally purchasing decorative contact lenses from a convenience store and wearing them at Halloween, according to the state Health Department."

Optical News from OpticalCEUs also heard that a Halloween store in Massachusetts was selling decorative CLs.

Safilo Reports Sales Gain in U.S.
Topic: Eyewear

"Safilo reported a 400,000 euro ($562 million) loss in the three months ending September, compared with a 50 million-euro loss a year earlier, the Padua, Italy-based, company said today in a statement. That beat the 11.2 million-euro loss average estimate of eight analysts on Bloomberg." That's the report that appeared on Bloomberg. "Sales rose almost 12 percent to 237.9 million euros, compared with the 230.3 million-euro estimate by 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales gained almost 30 percent in Asia, 21.7 percent in the U.S., and 5.7 percent in Europe, Safilo said."

The reported increase in U.S. sales might hint at  the beginning of a turnaround in the U.S. optical market. 

Programs Help Restore Sight in Africa
Topic: Eye Care

The NevadaAppeal posted the following:

Near Gilgil, deep in the Rift Valley of Kenya, there is a “Granny Club” consisting of native African grandmothers who are raising their orphaned grandchildren. A program to teach the grandmothers to read was failing miserably until it was discovered that the grandmothers could not see well enough to read.

Then several of the grandmothers were fitted with affordable eyeglasses at the Rotary sponsored eye clinic at the nearby St. Mary's Mission Hospital. Now the grandmothers are learning to read...

Meanwhile Voice of America notes that "a non-governmental organization in Nigeria called Sightsavers is working to help restore sight to visually impaired people. The Federal Ministry of Health recently conducted a survey on visual Impairment.  It found that about 1,130,000 people in Nigeria are blind.  More than a third of them are in the northwestern states."

Duffer Reports His Experience with Eye Surgery
Topic: Optical
"For those of us who wear glasses or contact lenses, playing golf is one of those occasions when we curse our poor vision. As a reasonably OK golfer, I decided long ago that hitting the ball in the middle of the club head is hard enough without trying to keep your glasses perched on the end of your nose, so I was forced to invest in contact lenses," reports Mike Norrish in the British Telegraph. He then gives up on CLs to try...

Seeing the Galaxies with New Vision Aid--Sort of
Topic: Optical--Sort Of
"Using the world's largest space telescope, ESA's Herschel Space Observatory, a UK-led team has discovered a new way of locating a natural phenomenon that acts like a zoom lens, allowing astronomers to peer at galaxies in the distant and early Universe," according to a Sify post.

Superfocus (TruFocals) Go Ballistic
Topic: Eyewear
A WSJ blog noted recently that "when NASA’s Shuttle Discovery blasts off into space this week, two of its six astronauts will be sporting...Superfocus glasses [formerly TruFocals]...Traditional bifocals and other glasses have long been used in space. But Dr. C. Robert Gibson, a vision consultant to NASA, suggested using the Superfocus glasses because they can be adjusted and give wearers a wide field of view. That’s especially important for astronauts who often have to look above them at monitors."

Report about Eye Care
Topic: Eye Care

1-800 Contacts Sues
Topic: Contact Lenses

According to TwinCities.com, Ophthalmologist David Eilers of St. Pauls, MN, allegedly complained to 1-800 contacts "that the calls were a waste of his time. They interrupted business. He wondered why they couldn't just have a human call. In a lawsuit filed in federal court this week, the contact seller claims Eilers' protests soon went beyond mere complaints. The doctor 'has intentionally and willfully sought to impede his competitor, plaintiff 1-800 Contactsend_of_the_skype_highlighting, by violating state and federal statutes, engaging in intentional interference with plaintiff's prospective business relations, and purposefully committing business defamation,' the suit claims."

Old Folks, Multifocal CLs & Night Driving -- Poor Mix
Topic: Contact Lenses

"Older adults who wear multifocal contact lenses to correct problems with near vision, a very common condition that increases with age, may have greater difficulty driving at night than their counterparts who wear glasses, says a new study [published in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science]," according to post on Sify. "The study suggests that wearing multifocal contact lenses resulted in significantly slower driving speeds at night than wearing progressive addition glasses, which authors reported a reduced ability to recognize road hazards." There were other findings as well.

Secret Rebates for Lucentis Use
Topic: Eye Care
NYTimes reports this morning that "Genentech has begun offering secret rebates to eye doctors as an apparent inducement to get them to use more of the company’s expensive drug Lucentis rather than a less costly alternative. Under the program, which started on Oct. 1, medical practices can earn up to tens of thousands of dollars in rebates each quarter if they use a lot of Lucentis and if their usage increases from the previous quarter, according to a confidential document outlining the program that was obtained by The New York Times."

Are Seniors Wearing the Wrong Glasses?
Topic: Eye Care
"A Specsavers survey has found 94 per cent of older customers at its Tauranga stores were wearing the wrong prescription of glasses. But other optometrists spoken to by the Bay of Plenty Times do not believe the finding represents what is actually happening across the Bay," which is located in New Zealand. What do you think? Is it true for your  patients?

Dry-Eye Study Using RGN-259 Released
Topic: Eye Care
RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. "announced the results of its first non-clinical dry eye study using RGN-259, RegeneRx's ophthalmic, preservative-free eye drop for the treatment of Dry Eye Syndrome (DES). In the study, animals were treated with RGN-259, a vehicle control and a positive control, doxycycline. Corneal fluorescein staining was used to measure the surface defects after induction of DES using an industry accepted dry eye model. In animals treated with RGN-259, a "dramatic" and statistically significant reduction in corneal staining (p<0.03) was observed compared to those treated with the vehicle control and equivalent to original levels seen prior to induction of DES. The treatment effect using RGN-259 was also more pronounced than that observed with the positive control, an accepted treatment for dry eye and ocular surface inflammation,"according to a MarketWatchReport.

Pissed Off Optician Accused of Stealing from Target
Topic: Optical
St. Peterburg Times posted the following: "An optician at Target who was angry about not getting a raise decided to get even by stealing items from the store, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office."

Johnson & Johnson Expands CL Recall in UK
Topic: Contact Lenses
According to WebNewsWire, Johnson & Johnson has expanded its voluntary recall of its One Day Acuvue TruEye CLs in Britain. The h British Department of Health said that "the affected batch was manufactured in Ireland with lot numbers falling between 492237 and 492498 and between 502080 and 502269, which include the 16 batches of product announced on August 19.These numbers are the first six digits of the lot number printed at the side of the product box. According to Johnson & Johnson, detailed investigation into the incident in August revealed that the lens rinsing process on two production lines did not meet the internal production standards of the company, leading to a residual trace amount of diluent in the lenses."

Excellent Course Evaluations for OpticalCEU's Fall 2010 Seminars
Topic: Continuing Education

At the end of each seminar, ABO/NCLE asks attendees to evaluate it based on four questions: Was this course a worthwhile investment of time and energy, was the instructor organized and knowledgeable, will your job performance improve as a result of this course, and were the printed outcomes of the course me? There's one additional question: Should the course continue to be approved for CE? Again the seminars for OpticalCEUs received excellent evaluations. See for yourselves.

CR Readers Rate Costco Best Nationwide Chain for Eyewear
Topic: Optical

A pubicity release from Consumer Reports notes: "Consumer Reports surveyed more than 30,000 bespectacled readers about their most recent purchase of a pair of eyeglasses and found that Costco topped the Ratings of eyeglass retailers, which included large chains, independent local optical shops, and private doctors offices....Costco Optical earned the highest score for overall satisfaction among chains, and also beat out most of its competitors for price -- a pair of glasses cost a median of $157 compared with a median of $211 at independent optical shops and $212 at eye doctors' offices."

Several points are not mentioned in the press release. Average price makes little sense; price will depend on what type of frame and lenses the individual selects. Another point: With more than 400 locations, making its optical department the fourth largest in the U.S., one can logically assume that more of CR's readers went to Costco than to any 100 independent practices, skewing the results. 

UK Opticians under Media Microscope--about Pricing
Topic: Optical
OptometryToday has posted a notice that "optics is preparing for a fresh media exploration of its High Street pricing which is planned to be screened later this year on national television. Rip Off Britain, the BBC One consumer investigation programme, is producing an report on how opticians price their products alongside online pricing." The series begins in the UK on 22 Nov. 2010. Maybe the BBC will run it in the States. It's always good to see how the other guy lives.

Optometrists and Ophthalmologists Fight over Who Should Have the Largest...
Topic: Eye Care
...scope of practice, according to a good article posted on GreenvilleOnline. The website reports that "optometrists in South Carolina have pushed two bills to expand their scope of practice to include some procedures that ophthalmologists do. Both bills failed to advance. And while optometrists say they haven't decided whether to pursue legislation again in the coming session, ophthalmologists are poised to fight if they do. It has South Carolina consumers in the crossfire."

The analysis goes on: "It's a scenario that's played out in other states around the country with varying degrees of success. Optometrists say they should be able to perform certain surgical procedures, administer injections and prescribe some drugs." Ophthalmologists say no.

Vision Care for the Homebound
Topic: Eye Care
We tend to overlook the vision and dental needs of individuals homebound. We, as do they, become preoccupied with their major health concerns and forget others. Northern Ireland's Department of Health has fixed that, according to a post on OptometryToday. "Care home staff now have access to a set of ‘standards’, many of which will already be in place, to help ensure that those in their care have access to the best quality of eye care available. The guidelines include best practice for optometric care and treatment ensuring accessible, flexible and responsive services which are safe and effective."

Vision Hope for Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes
Topic: Eye Care
"The results of the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) Eye Study, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), show promising results in slowing the advancement of diabetic retinopathy and its effect on vision," noted HealthNewsDigest. "The study examined adults who had Type 2 diabetes for an average of 10 years and were evaluated after different types of treatments of control of blood sugar, lipids and blood pressure. Intensive blood sugar control, compared with standard blood sugar control, decreased the progression of diabetic retinopathy by about one-third, from 10.4 percent to 7.3 percent, over four years."