Researchers at the Sheba Medical Center are pleased with the initial results from an animal study being conducted to determine the effects of electromagnetic stimulation for retinal degeneration. Details of the study’s report were published in the Ophthalmology Times and results were presented at the International Symposium for Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics in Vienna.

The study involved the use of a transcranial magnetic stimulation system which was developed by Brainsway Ltd. and there were two phases of the study. The first phase of the study involved fifteen rats. Over a 2 week period, eight of the rats received active stimulation while the remaining seven received a sham treatment. An improvement in the retina’s response to light was noted in the rats who received the active stimulation although it was a short-lasting improvement.

The treatment period was extended to 4 weeks in the second phase of the study and involved sixteen rats. Half of the rats received the real stimulation and the other half received sham stimulation. The extended treatment period resulted in greater and longer-lasting improvement in the retinal function of the rats receiving the real stimulation. An improvement in the photoreceptor function was also noted in this second phase of the study which was not indicated in the initial phase.

The study’s promising results will lead to further research. The additional research will involve testing the eye tissue and optimizing the treatment protocol. Clinical testing will also be done on human participants who have macular degeneration-induced blindness.

Welcome to winter  - that is, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere.

If you’ve got dry eyes, it’s likely that your symptoms are worse during winter. Here’s why…

The cold air of winter can’t hold much water vapor. That’s why you see the water vapor coming out through your mouth – the air is literally saturated.

So a 30% humidity level when the air is cold contains a lot less dissolved water than the same humidity percentage when the weather is balmy.

And guess what happens when that cold air finally enters your house or office?

Unless you’ve got a humidifier running, the air is now warm and dry. And like a desert climate, your tears that are bathing the eye’s surface evaporate rapidly.

With Dry Eye Syndrome, your tear glands can’t keep up with the rapid evaporation. This is especially common in women over the age of 30.

The clear cornea on the eye’s surface, as a result, develops uncomfortable dry spots. The white conjunctiva may become red.  Light sensitivity (photophobia) is common. So is a sense of hazy or unclear vision, especially when reading or working on a computer, when you blink much less frequently.

The eye, now irritated, sends a message for help to the brain. The brain obliges with intermittent floods of very watery tears.

Unfortunately, these are not the tears that really help the symptoms of Dry Eye Syndrome. Rather, they’re a clumsy built-in rescue system that briefly douses each new fire.

The most effective and highest quality tears are the ones that “seep” 24 x 7, trickling high quality nutrients and moisture throughout the day, sort of like one of those soaker garden hoses with the thousand pinprick holes that you lay down in your tomato garden.

It is this shortage of “basal tearing” that is the most common culprit in Dry Eye Syndrome.

Here are my 5 helpful tricks to make you more comfortable if you’re experiencing dry eye symptoms during winter:

–
Paul Krawitz, M.D., President
Vitamin Science, Inc.

Only 2 percent of contact lens wearers actually follow the guidelines for proper contact lens hygiene according to a new study published in the journal Optometry and Vision Science. The study also revealed that more than 80 percent of those who participated in the study erroneously believed that they followed good cleaning practices.

Not surprisingly, 72 percent of those surveyed said they had experienced discomfort from their lenses and 47 percent reported having had an infection from wearing their lenses. Among the list of infractions committed by contact lens wearers is sleeping with the contact lenses still in, not replacing the solution in the contact lens case every day with fresh solution and rarely or never replacing the lens case.

Failure to follow a proper hygiene protocol for contact lens use can result in mild problems such as conjunctivitis (also known as “pink eye”) to potentially blinding eye infections caused by E. coli or Acanthamoeba. Such potential eye infections can be avoided by following these guidelines:

• Always wash your hands and dry thoroughly with a lint-free towel before handling your lenses.
• Try to avoid bathing or swimming with your contact lenses in.
• Always store your lenses in the proper saline solution and not just water.
• Do not use saliva to moisten your lenses.
• Saline solution does not disinfect your lenses.
• Follow the proper disposal and replacement schedule as set by your eye care provider.
• Always rinse your contacts with solution and not water and allow your case to air-dry. The case should be replaced every three months at the very minimum.

By following the simple tips above, you can avoid a painful visit to your eye care professional in the future.*

January is Glaucoma Awareness Month and according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness. Unfortunately, by the time a person is diagnosed with glaucoma, the damage that has already been done to the eye is irreversible.

According to the organization Prevent Blindness America, more than 2.2 million American over the age of 40 have the most common form of glaucoma which is open angle glaucoma. Half of those people aren’t even aware that they have the condition.

People who are at high risk of developing glaucoma should be tested every year or two after the age of 35. People who are at high risk include African Americans, those over the age of 60 and those with a family history of glaucoma.

Medications are available to treat glaucoma but usually only aim to reduce elevated intraocular pressure and prevent damage to the optic nerve. Surgery can also help to reduce the pressure when medication does not but neither medication or surgery can reverse vision loss.

A collaboration between researchers at Wayne State University, the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Medicine resulted in the discovery that dry age-related macular degeneration could be treated by  attaching steroids to nanoparticles called dendrimers. These steroids are delivered directly to the retina where they are delivered in a sustained-release manner and only target the cells that cause neuroinflammation and leave the rest of the eye alone.

The study which was published in the journal Biomaterials was conducted using rats and the results showed that one intravitreal injection of the nanoparticles offered neuroprotection for one month. Not only did the treatment reduce neuroinflammation in the rats but it also protected their vision by keeping the photoreceptors in the retina from being injured.

The treatment would benefit both dry age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. Researchers acknowledge that the protection provided by the steroid is only temporary but that overall treatment provides sustained relief from neuroinflammation.*