General Vision and Eye News Archive
(2006 and Before)

FORTH WORTH, December 2006 — Eleven customer complaints of mold found within certain bottles of Alcon's preservative-free Systane Free Liquid Gel Eye Drops have prompted the company voluntarily to issue a recall order.

An Alcon company news release says an investigation revealed that the formulation of the product appears to have contributed to growth of the mold, which itself is unlikely to cause an eye infection. But company officials say the possibility that an opened bottle could eventually become contaminated and cause infection led to the decision to issue a recall.

About 5 million bottles of Systane Free Liquid Gel Eye Drops have been distributed since the product first was introduced in January 2006, the news release says. The recall order does not apply to any other Systane eye drops.

If you have any Systane products with labeling that includes the words "free" and "liquid gel," as shown in the photo, you can call Alcon at 1-866-608-3936 or visit the Systane web site to obtain instructions for returning the preservative-free product and obtaining replacement Systane eye drops in the original formula.

EDINBURGH, Scotland, December 2006 — Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion researchers in Scotland report that eye jerking associated with nystagmus can occur in newborns when their mothers engage in drug abuse during pregnancy.

The study reported in the December issue of British Journal of Ophthalmology involved an investigation of nystagmus that appeared in 14 children. During pregnancy, mothers of these children abused drugs related to opiates such as heroin and benzodiazepines often prescribed as depressants to aid with sleeping.

Researchers also reported that drug abuse during pregnancy generally caused developmental delays in nine of the children, and half of the children had delayed maturation of their vision.

WASHINGTON D.C., December 2006 — Lax vision screening in driver's license testing in certain states could be contributing to higher rates of fatal crashes on American roadways, the Vision Council of America (VCA) said in a special report released in late 2006.

The VCA report, titled "Keeping Our Eyes on the Road," found that vision screening required for driver's license renewal was non-existent or highly infrequent in eight of the top 10 states where the rate of road fatalities was highest.

"There is an alarming disconnect in the fact that drivers can go for years without having their eyes checked, particularly because there are 11 million Americans with uncorrected vision problems," VCA CEO Ed Greene said in a news release.

Four states with higher rates of highway fatalities and that require no vision screening after an initial driver's license application include Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and West Virginia. Four other states that rank in the top 10 for highway fatalities and that require vision screening for driver's licenses only at eight-year intervals or longer include Arizona, Montana, New Mexico and South Carolina.
 

LONDON, November 2006 — Researchers at Moorfields Eye Hospital, other London institutions and the University of Michigan have reported success with experimental cell transplants that restored at least partial sight in blind mice with damaged nerve cells (photoreceptors) essential for sight.

Researchers said these findings eventually may have implications for treating certain eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP). A person with RP loses eyesight when photoreceptors found in the inner back lining of the eye (retina) become permanently damaged.

"Remarkably, we found that the mature retina, previously believed to have no capacity for repair, is in fact able to support the development of new functional photoreceptors," University College London (UCL) researcher Jane Sowden, PhD, said in a news release.

Cells used in the transplants were harvested from retinas of mice that were several days old. Researchers say the cells were not stem cells, which eventually can grow into different types, but represented more advanced cells that already had begun to specialize.

Results of these experiments were reported in the Nov. 9, 2006 issue of Nature magazine.

GENEVA, October 2006 — A simple pair of eyeglasses could make all the difference in terms of employment and educational opportunities for 153 million people worldwide who are unable to afford eye exams and appropriate vision correction, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO's new 2006 global estimates of vision problems show that millions of people, most of them in low and middle income countries, have uncorrected refractive errors such as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. WHO officials note that these types of eye problems are easily corrected and yet represent a leading cause of vision impairment worldwide.

As part of WHO's Vision 2020 Global Initiative program, strategies are being adopted to improve access to affordable eye care worldwide. WHO also has announced plans to raise world awareness of the magnitude and seriousness of the problem of uncorrected vision problems.

ACTON, Mass., September 2006 — An optical scanning system appears able to detect protein substances within the eye's lens that may indicate beginning stages of Alzheimer's, a devastating disease in which the brain's nerve cells begin to die.

The Optiscan system, so far tested on eyes of mice, belongs to diagnostics company Neuroptix Corp. (Acton, Mass.). Optiscan now will be developed as an inexpensive diagnostic tool that potentially can be used to detect Alzheimer's in a clinical setting, according to a company news release.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif., September 2006 — A recent study indicates that people with severe West Nile Virus symptoms, which can include vision problems, may develop lesions and scarring in the inner back of the eye (retina) from chorioretinitis.

From 2002 through 2005, researchers at Southern California Desert Retina Consultants in Palm Springs, Calif. studied West Nile Virus cases involving seven people who developed vision problems.

Authors of the study, reported in the September 2006 issue of Ophthalmology, noted that multifocal chorioretinitis is the most common among vision symptoms associated with West Nile Virus. Other studies also have noted that multifocal chorioretinitis might be a marker indicating presence of serious forms of West Nile Virus.

Other vision problems found in association with West Nile Virus included optic nerve damage (optic neuritis) and inflammation causing reduced blood flow (occlusive vasculitis). Researchers also note that diabetic patients were more likely to develop serious and lasting vision problems from West Nile Virus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that about one of every 150 diagnosed cases of West Nile Virus, which spreads through mosquito bites, is likely to create serious symptoms. The CDC says approximately 3,000 people were diagnosed with West Nile Virus in the United States during 2005, resulting in 119 deaths.

ATLANTA, August 2006 — Georgia Tech researchers have converted a device originally developed to help robots maneuver on their own into a computer system that could help the blind navigate, known as the System for Wearable Audio Navigation (SWAN).

"We are excited by the possibilities for people who are blind and visually impaired to use the SWAN auditory way-finding system," Atlanta's Center for the Visually Impaired Executive Director Susan B. Green said in a news release.

The device provides audio clues for navigation through a laptop computer, tracking chip and headphones. Researchers say the technology, originally developed for military use, also could have other applications such as for firefighters blinded by smoke.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., August 2006 — The Illinois state legislature continues to consider legislation that would ban implantation of tiny bits of "eye jewelry" in heart, half-moon and other shapes. The Illinois state house of representatives on April 15, 2005 unanimously passed a bill to make implanting eyeball jewelry a felony offense for any individual, including physicians. Meanwhile, the deadline for the state senate to consider final passage of the bill has been extended to January 2007.

The eye jewelry fad, first reported in the press in April 2004, seems to have begun in the Netherlands. At that time, the American Academy of Ophthalmology issued a statement about the implant's potential harm. According to Academy spokesperson Wayne Bizer, DO: "My concern would be that it might cause foreign body granuloma or scar tissue."

"The implant could also allow bacteria to get beneath the conjunctiva, causing a serious vision-threatening infection or possibly erode the sclera, the white part of the eye," Bizer said, adding that the implant also could be difficult to remove.

In August 2004, a Los Angeles ophthalmologist introduced the procedure to the United States, according to a report by NBC10.com, at a cost of $3,900 per eye. Other eye doctors expressed worries about possible infection, bleeding and the eventual extrusion of the eye jewelry through the eye's surface.

SEATTLE, July 2006 — In a study indicating that even low levels of drinking and driving may be dangerous, most individuals who had consumed modest amounts of alcohol failed to see someone dressed in a gorilla suit who appeared in video clips primarily showing people playing ball.

Only 18 percent of people with low blood alcohol levels, about half the legal drinking and driving limits in most U.S. states, saw the gorilla. About 46 percent of study participants who had consumed no alcohol saw the gorilla. People participating in the study did not know which drinks given to them contained alcohol prior to the airing of the video clips.

Study results from experiments conducted by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle and at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand were published in late June 2006 in the Applied Cognitive Psychology journal.

Researchers say inability to see an object in the visual field while concentrating on another image is known as "inattentional blindness." Inattentional blindness can have serious safety implications for drivers who consume even low levels of alcohol because of the need to be simultaneously aware of all aspects of the visual field.

DETROIT, June 2006 — An implant placed in the inner back portion of the eye (retina) where images are detected by light-sensitive cells appears to be able to stimulate recognition of light and patterns in certain individuals previously considered completely blind.

Results are from early studies involving the Learning Retinal Implant from Intelligent Medical Implants (Zug, Switzerland). A company news release issued from Detroit says these early results demonstrate the first-ever accomplishment of wireless transmission of data and energy into such an implant, resulting in pattern recognition in the blind.

The first implantation took place in November 2005 in an individual at the University of Hamburg Medical School in Germany, where Gisbert Richard, MD, serves as principal investigator for the study. As of June 2006, four people had received implants.

"Our study concludes that it is possible to provoke pattern recognition by electrical stimulation," Richard said in a news release. "The wireless data and energy transmission into the implant allowed totally unrestricted eye movement and is therefore considered suitable as a long-term solution for blind persons."

The study initially is aimed at potentially reversing blindness in people who have the inherited, blinding eye disease known as retinitis pigmentosa, which affects several million people worldwide and has no known cure. [See the article on retinitis pigmentosa.]

BRISTOL, England, June 2006 — British researchers say early screening and treatment of pre-schoolers with lazy eye (amblyopia), who often must wear eye patches, could help reduce risks of later being bullied at school.

University of Bristol researchers in a study reported in June 2006 found that young children with amblyopia were 50 percent more likely to be bullied if eye patches were worn in school. Children with ambylopia who were screened early and who had finished eye patching treatments by the time they entered school were much less likely to be bullied.

"Both parents and children might consider that halving the risk of being bullied is a good reason for a child to attend a pre-school vision screening appointment, rather than wait for detection and treatment at school age," said Bristol eye surgeon and researcher Cathy Williams. "...We know that repeated bullying is consistently associated with physical and emotional problems for the victims and may have long-term consequences."

Bristol researchers say amblyopia affects about 3 percent of all children, but is easily treated when the dominant eye is patched to help strengthen the weaker eye. [See also: Children's Eye Exams]

DETROIT, April 2006 — Artificially engineered cells in the eyes of blinded mice demonstrated ability to detect at least some light during Wayne State University School of Medicine (Detroit) studies reported in the April 6, 2006 issue of Neuron.

In experiments funded by the National Eye Institute, researchers used artificially engineered cells to replace at least some function of the blind eye's damaged light-sensitive cells (rods and cones) found within the inner back of the eye (retina) where vision processing takes place.

Researchers introduced a gene derived from light-sensitive protein from green algae (ChR2) into the retina to stimulate light sensitivity in cells that ordinarily do not respond to light. Researchers said these study results have implications for future research into finding ways to restore vision lost to eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, which permanently damages light-sensitive cells.

RALEIGH, N.C., March 2006 — North Carolina House of Representatives Speaker Jim Black, an optometrist, has drawn considerable heat for his support of legislation that now requires school children entering state kindergarten programs to undergo eye exams beginning within six months of the upcoming fall 2006 semester.

News reports say about a dozen school boards from throughout North Carolina have joined together in a lawsuit opposing mandatory eye exams as unconstitutional. Opponents argue that some counties in the state don't even have eye doctors and that underprivileged families would be unable to afford the cost of eye exams.

Black had argued that early eye exams for young children are crucial for detecting often overlooked eye ailments that can affect school work and proper vision development.

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama, January 2006 — A small Alabama study indicates that impotence drugs such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra could cause optic nerve damage and sudden blindness in older men with vascular problems such as high blood pressure or a history of heart attacks, the British Journal of Ophthalmology reported in early 2006.

British news reports said University of Alabama researchers who conducted the study recommend that patients using drugs such as Viagra should be warned of the risk of developing impaired blood flow to the optic nerve, which can cause sudden blindness.

The study of 76 men attending one eye health care clinic found that patients who previously had experienced heart attacks were 10 times more likely to develop a condition called non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), causing reduced blood flow damaging the eye's optic nerve, if they had taken drugs for impotence.

When the issue first was reported in the summer of 2005, Pfizer (the maker of Viagra) said on its website that no one among 13,000 patients included in 103 clinical trials leading to U.S. Food and Drug Admininstration approval of the drug had reported a NAION episode. But an editorial in the British journal says that eye care physicians may not be asking patients diagnosed with NAION if they have taken drugs for impotence, thus causing associations to be missed.

Other previous research indicated that older people generally are more likely to have NAION, particularly if they have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, a history of smoking, heart disease and diabetes. This same group also is more likely to experience impotence and therefore to take medication for it.

BEIJING, China, December 2005 — From three to five percent of China's children suffer from amblyopia, but less than one percent of them have received efficient treatment, says a study that was reported on the People's Daily Online website.

Conducted by the Chinese medical institute of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the research found most of the amblyopia incidence has occurred in children younger than six and seems to be congenital or genetic, with a higher incidence in children with an amblyopic parent. One of the ophthalmologist researchers said that the prolonged, intense use of TVs and computers, as well as large amounts of schoolwork, are helping to cause the condition.

GREAT BRITAIN, November 2005 — Frightening research by Privilege Insurance Company found that while 55 percent of British drivers require glasses or contact lenses for driving, 18 percent of these, or three million drivers, have driven without their lenses. And 17 percent of these (more than half a million people), drive without their lenses once every few days.

More than 500,000 drivers have been involved in an incident such as drifting out of the lane, speeding or driving on the wrong side of the road while not using their eyewear. And the last time they drove without their eyewear, 11 percent did so on a journey of more than 50 miles.

PHILADELPHIA, November 2005 — The NBC 10 News Team in Philadelphia reported that it visited an opticianry in the city and recorded an undercover videotape that showed the owner testing a woman's eyes and prescribing eyeglasses for her. He also tested a man's eyes and sold him contact lenses. The owner, Bill Nigro, admitted that he is not licensed to be an eye doctor.

The report said that under Pennsylvania state law, only eye doctors — optometrists and ophthalmologists — are allowed to conduct eye exams. The reason is that they are trained not only to prescribe lenses but also to evaluate eye health and detect problems and diseases.

BETHESDA, Md., April 2005 — Surprising results from a nationwide study show that older children may benefit from traditional therapies for lazy eye (amblyopia), the National Eye Institute (NEI) announced.

Many eyecare providers previously thought that only very young children up to about age 7 could benefit from therapies such as eye patching, eye drops and activities for improving near vision, the NEI said. Lazy eye typically develops beginning in infancy when the eye-brain connection fails to develop properly, resulting in one eye becoming extremely dominant. The non-dominant eye in lazy eye eventually may become blind.

"Doctors can now feel confident that traditional treatments for amblyopia will work for many older children," NEI Director Paul A. Sieving, MD, PhD, said in a news release. "This is important because it is estimated that as many as 3 percent of children in the United States have some degree of vision impairment due to amblyopia. Many of these children do not receive treatment while they are young."

In the study reported in the April 2005 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, many of 507 older children ages 7-17 had vision improvement when traditional lazy eye therapies were used.

ST. LOUIS, Mo., March 2005 — An ongoing controversy over whether tinted lenses or filters might help people who have learning disabilities associated with dyslexia has again surfaced in early 2005.

An article in the Wall Street Journal in March points out a recent marketing push by some eye doctors who charge up to $2,000 for diagnostic tests using colored filters for patients with dyslexia, a method that some eye experts say is based on dubious science.

"Reading difficulties and learning disabilities are complex problems that have no simple solutions," says a joint statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus and American Academy of Ophthalmology. "There is no known eye or visual cause for these learning disabilities and no known effective visual treatment."

But an official position paper from the American Optometric Association (AOA) based in St. Louis says that some "undetected vision problems may be a factor in individuals who exhibit the symptoms" of a syndrome defined by psychologist Helen Irlen as a connection between dyslexia and vision.

The AOA says further research is needed, based on reviews of scientific literature showing mixed results regarding the effectiveness of tinted lenses as an aid for people who have reading difficulties associated with dyslexia.

"Vision problems are a frequent factor in reading difficulties," the AOA's position paper says. "Ignoring the role of vision or inadequately evaluating the vision of individuals with reading problems is a disservice which may prevent the person from receiving appropriate care."

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., March 2005 — A new drug that may hydrate the eye's surface to help ease dry eye symptoms has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance to begin clinical trials aimed at proving its effectiveness, Lantibio Inc. announced.

The drug, Moli1901, initially was developed as a cystic fibrosis treatment, company director of development Terry Laliberte said in a news release. The drug treats cystic fibrosis by altering the way lungs form mucus, creating a more normal environment in airways.

The release says Moli1901 may potentially moisten the eye's surface to relieve dry eye symptoms such as irritation, discomfort and long-term effects that might lead to eye injury.

About 5.5 million U.S. residents are estimated to have dry eye syndrome, which occurs more often in women, primarily due to hormone changes associated with menopause.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 2005 — Ophthalmologists are puzzled about why a once rare condition called optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH) appears to be increasing nationwide among infants who may be blinded by the condition, the Wall Street Journal reported in early March 2005. The condition results from inadequate development of the optic nerve responsible for transmitting images from the eye to the brain.

Creig Hoyt, MD, chairman of the University of California at San Francisco ophthalmology department, told the Journal that increased numbers of ONH cases may be due to better methods of diagnosing the condition. But other ophthalmologists indicate there is no clear reason for the dramatic increase in cases seen at their practices.

Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), abnormal regulation of body temperature and yellowish skin (jaundice) in infants are among symptoms indicating that the optic nerve may need to be examined. Early intervention can help lessen neurological damage associated with ONH.

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