News and Features Related to Eye Health

1. Wearing Contact Lenses Past Their Prime
   

   June 4, 2009 -- If you wear contact lenses, you might want to check your calendar. A new survey shows that 40% of contact lens wearers don’t replace their lenses in keeping with lens makers' guidelines. The survey -- conducted in February by researchers at the Centre for Contact Lens Research at Can

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2. Bacterial Conjunctivitis Drug Besivance Approved
   

   May 29, 2009 -- The FDA has approved a new antibacterial eyedrop called Besivance to treat a contagious eye infection called bacterial conjunctivitis, which is commonly called "pinkeye." Symptoms of bacterial conjunctivitis include red eyes, swelling, eyelids sticking together, itching, watering, an

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3. Mediterranean Diet May Boost Eye Health
   

   May 11, 2009 -- Eating a Mediterranean-style diet rich in fish, nuts, and olive oil may help save your sight as well as your heart. The Mediterranean diet has already been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, but new research suggests that it may also help prevent age-related macular degenerat

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4. Can B Vitamins Lower Risk of Blindness?
   

   Feb. 23, 2009 -- Taking a combination of B vitamins may offer a rare and inexpensive opportunity to help prevent the most common cause of blindness in older Americans, age-related macular degeneration (AMD). A new study shows that women who took vitamins B6 and B12 along with folic acid had a 34% lo

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5. Protect Your Eyes When Popping the Cork
   

   Dec. 31, 2008 -- Chilling the bubbly to toast 2009 at the stroke of midnight? Ophthalmologist Andrew Iwach, MD, doesn't mean to be a killjoy, but he also doesn't want to see you head for the hospital with an eye injury from a flying cork. "Believe it or not, there are hundreds of cases in the United

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6. Is Vision Correction Surgery for You?
   

   If you've thought about vision correction surgery -- also called refractive eye surgery -- and have even begun to do your research, you know by now that there's an alphabet soup of confusing options. There's the well-known, and still vastly popular, LASIK (laser in situ keratomileusis), but also wav

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7. Newer Contact Lenses Don't Cut Infections
   

   Oct. 3, 2008 -- Neither the newer contact lenses that allow more oxygen into the eye nor daily disposable lenses have reduced the risk of a dangerous eye infection as hoped, according to two new studies. Whatever the type of lens, sleeping with them in is the biggest risk factor for a painful infect

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8. Gene Therapy Offers Hope for Blindness
   

   Sept. 22, 2008 - After more than a decade of research, the first gene therapy trials in people with a rare form of blindness are under way, and experts say they are thrilled with the early findings. The three latest patients to have the gene therapy showed dramatic improvement in light sensitivity a

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9. Gene Thwarts Dry Macular Degeneration
   

   Aug. 27, 2008 -- If you've got a certain gene mutation, you may be less likely to develop the dry form of age-related macular degeneration, new research shows. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of vision loss in the U.S., typically strikes after age 55. It affects the macula,

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10. Nearly Half of Eye Injuries Occur at Home
    

    July 2, 2008 -- Fireworks-related eye injuries are a big reason why the Fourth of July holds the distinction of being America's most dangerous holiday. But eye injuries in the home occur every day of the year, and most can be avoided, experts say. A new study shows that nearly half of the 2.5 millio

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