In a conference held in Edinburgh titled “Eye Development and Degeneration 2017”, scientists said that they have identified chemical changes in the eye that can lead to blindness. Their findings aid understanding of a genetic condition that causes sight loss for one in 3,000 people in the UK. (more…)
Recent strides toward understanding dry eye are leading to better and longer-lasting therapies for the millions of people in the U.S. who are affected by the condition.
Current therapies for dry eye provide symptomatic relief: steroids control inflammation, antibiotics counter infection, and artificial tears replenish moisture. But such approaches give only short-term relief for some people and require frequent reapplication. They also fail to address the underlying causes of dry eye. (more…)
UV radiation can damage your eyes as well as your skin. Studies suggest that overexposure to UV radiation can cause eye cataracts, eye damage, and suppression of the immune system, in general. May they be your family, friends, or colleagues – everyone is equally at risk for eye damage due to overexposure to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
The sun’s UV rays can burn the cornea of your eyes, which can result in cataracts that may ultimately cause blindness. Even short periods of exposure can lead to serious damage. (more…)
Twenty years ago, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge developed a test of ‘cognitive empathy’ called the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test (or the Eyes Test, for short). This revealed that people can rapidly interpret what another person is thinking or feeling from looking at their eyes alone. It also showed that some of us are better at this than others, and that women on average score better on this test than men. (more…)
Four years ago, Essilor, the market leader in ophthalmic optics with the mission to improve lives by improving sight, created dedicated teams to reach the 2.5 billion people across the globe who don’t have access to the vision correction they need. Since then, Essilor has launched and scaled-up new inclusive business models and deployed many non-profit initiatives to improve access to vision care in developing (and developed) nations. (more…)
It’s a well-known fact that smoking increases risks for certain eye diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataracts, and vision loss. Since 2015, promotional campaigns appear across the U.S. to warn smokers of the health risks of tobacco use and to encourage them to quit. Studies show that smokers are twice as likely to develop macular degeneration compared with a nonsmoker, while they are two to three times more likely to develop cataracts compared with a nonsmoker. (more…)
Is what you’re looking at an object, a face, or a tree? When processing visual input, our brain uses different areas to recognize faces, body parts, scenes, and objects. Scientists at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium, have now shown that people who were born blind use a ‘brain map’ with a very similar layout to distinguish between these same categories.
Our brain only needs a split second to determine what we’re seeing. The area in our brain that can categorize these visual observations so quickly is the so-called ventral-temporal cortex, the visual brain. Like a map, this region is divided into smaller regions, each of which recognizes a particular category of observations — faces, body parts, scenes, and objects. (more…)
Towards Universal Eye Health: Taking stock of progress against the Global Action Plan – what’s working and where to from here?
Thursday 25 May 2017
12.30pm – 2.00pm
Room XXIV (24), Palais des Nations, Geneva
Lunch and refreshments will be provided and there will be simultaneous translation in English, French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. (more…)
Getting a comprehensive dilated eye exam is one of the best things you can do to keep your eyes healthy. In this painless procedure, an eye care professional examines your eyes to look for common vision problems and eye diseases, many of which have no early warning signs.
Different from the basic eye exam you have for glasses or contact lenses, a comprehensive dilated eye exam can help protect your sight by making sure you are seeing your best and detecting eye diseases in their early stages, before vision loss has occurred. (more…)
Today, Google gives the inventor of eye test's 181st birthday a wink with an animated doodle. Ferdinand Monoyer (9 May 1836 – 11 July 1912), a famous French ophthalmologist developed the…