News

Fort Lauderdale, FL-The Blue Mountains Eye Study has yielded 10-year data on the incidence and progression of glaucoma in an elderly population as well as valuable information on systemic and ocular predictors.

The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), and the American Urological Association (AUA) have joined forces to launch a patient and prescriber education campaign about the risk of intraoperative floppy iris syndrome (IFIS) associated with the current or previous use of an alpha-1 blocker and the likelihood of successful surgery if the ophthalmologist is aware of that medication history and is able to employ appropriate surgical strategies.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), which said it was "pleased with the timely JAMA article," is reminding physicians to emphasize the importance of good hygiene practices to their patients who wear contact lenses.

Codes for vitrectomy and other common retina procedures are under review because they no longer describe today's procedures.

While the Goldmann applanation tonometer is a very accurate instrument for measuring IOP compared with previous instruments, ophthalmologists now know that central corneal thickness (CCT) is much more variable than was believed when the instrument was developed.

A new study confirms preliminary findings that a unique outbreak of Fusarium keratitis this past spring was associated with use of ReNu with MoistureLoc (Bausch & Lomb) contact lens cleaning solution and common suboptimal hygiene practices (JAMA 2006;296:953-963).

Microincision cataract surgery (MICS), hailed to be the next big development in cataract surgery, has not had the expected impact on surgeon's practice, David Leaming revealed, whilst detailing the results of his most recent survey on cataract surgery practice in Europe and the US.

Microincision cataract surgery (MICS), hailed to be the next big development in cataract surgery, has not had the expected impact on surgeon's practice, David Leaming revealed, whilst detailing the results of his most recent survey on cataract surgery practice in Europe and the US.

The use of foldable intraocular lenses (IOLs) in cataract surgery is a trend that is continuing to rise across Europe, according to Mats Lundstrom speaking at the Outcomes of Cataract and Refractive Surgery symposium.

Howard Fine, MD, speaking at the ISRS/AAO symposium, believes that the answer to correcting presbyopia lies in accommodating lenses rather than multifocal intraocular lenses (IOLs).

According to Oliver Findl, it is becoming increasingly important to use a wider variety of parameters to assess visual quality after cataract surgery in order to gain a better understanding of patient's day-to-day experiences.

Although image quality has a clear influence on visual acuity, it does not account for all the individual variability of other factors that must be involved including, measurement errors, or wavefront, optical or neural factors, Raymond Applegate said.

A large survey has recently been piloted in the UK to demonstrate the use and benefits of electronic data collection with respect to rapidly monitoring the access, delivery and outcome of cataract surgery in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and to update benchmark standards for these parameters of care.

The carpenter's rule is measure twice, cut once. The wavefront aberrometry rule should be measure hundreds of times, then analysed, and then cut once, Dr Robert Iskander said.

The new *Acri.Lisa (*Acri.Tec) bifocal, acrylic IOL provides very good distance and near visual acuity and sufficient intermediate visual acuity, said Ulrich Mester. Pseudoaccommodation range is 5.5 D and it also offers improved contrast sensitivity. He noted, however, that halos are still present with the lens.

According to Alessandro Franchini, it is insufficient to design an aspheric lens that maintains a certain degree of spherical aberration simply to achieve a degree of pseudo-accommodation.

Levofloxacin 0.5% eye drops should be the first choice for antibacterial prophylaxis and treatment, according to Professor P. Asbell of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, USA.

According to Alaa El Danasoury and colleagues, Toric ICL (TICL; STAAR Surgical) implantation is safe, effective and predictable in its correction of compound myopic astigmatism.

According to Omid Kermani from the Augenabteilung der PAN-Klinik am Neumarkt, Köln, Germany, and colleagues, the implantation of a foldable toric intraocular lens (IOL) is a safe and predictable procedure for the correction of high pre-existing corneal astigmatism in cataract surgery.

Bausch & Lomb has introduced a stable chamber tubing system, as a part of the new micro incision vacuum pack, to its Millennium Micro Incision Cataract Surgery (MICS) platform.

Wavelight has announced the receipt of two regulatory approvals for its intraocular lenses (IOLs), thus expanding its intraocular product range.

Clear corneal incisions and silicon IOLs are new risk factors in post-cataract surgery endophthalimitis, Peter Barry revealed in the first presentation of the full ESCRS endophthalmitis study results.

According to Zdenek Gregor of Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK, prevention of endophthalmitis will always be preferable to a cure. While the use of preoperative povidone iodine has managed to decrease the incidence of the infection, the hope is that per-operative intracameral antibiotics will further fuel a decrease in incidence of this worrying consequence of cataract surgery.

It is possible to achieve a lower rate of endophthalmitis with a single injection of cefuroxime at the conclusion of cataract surgery than by using the more traditional subconjunctival/topical regimens, according to Per Montan of the St Erik Eye Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.

Schwind's ESIRIS and Wavelight's 400Q laser systems are equally efficacious in correcting refractive error, according to a study presented by Yannis Aslanides, MD of the Emmetropia Mediterranean Eye Clinic in Crete, Greece.

Tensioning of Schlemm's canal may reduce intraocular pressure (IOP) in non-penetrating surgical treatment of open angle glaucoma (OAG), according to the results of a study conducted by Manfred Tetz and colleagues from Germany.

Swiss firm, Ziemer Ophthalmic Systems took advantage of the ESCRS congress to reveal its femtosecond laser Da Vinci to the ophthalmic community.

Refractive lens exchange (RLE) is not reversible so doctors need to apply their surgical wisdom to identify the most appropriate cases, Jorge Alió of the Instituto Oftalmologico de Alicante, Spain said. Often indications are based on the simplicity of the procedure but that doesn't always balance well with the best patient benefit.

Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) is an effective treatment for glaucoma and offers good long term outlooks, according to Madhu Nagar of the Clayton Eye Centre, UK.

Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) is effective as both a primary and a secondary treatment for patients with ocular hypertension or primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), according to the results of two studies presented at the Ellex symposium.