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Ophthalmology
Vision problems flagged after GLP-1 agonists – Utah survey
Though it was not possible to determine causality, a retrospective case series identified nine patients who developed ophthalmic complications during treatment with semaglutide (Ozempic,...
Danish studies flag rare optic nerve damage with Ozempic
Scientists involved in two large studies suggest their findings confirm that diabetes medication Ozempic doubles the risk of developing non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy...
World first stem cell transplant improves vision in patients
A radical stem cell transplant has significantly improved the blurry vision of three people with severe damage to their corneas, the clinical trial in...
The cost of lockdown on children’s eyesight – Chinese study
One in every three children is now short-sighted as a result of Covid lockdowns, suggest researchers, who found not only that myopia tripled between...
Unequal eye health services calls for urgent state intervention
Despite South Africa producing a substantial number of trained optometrists, most of them work in the private sector and in urban areas, an imbalance...
Video of 64 eyeballs offers insight into eye aging – German study
There is no doubt that time takes its toll on our eyes, and now a funky, Hitchcockian video of 64 eyeballs, all rolling and...
Nordisk slams study linking rare blindness to semaglutide
Novo Nordisk has criticised as insufficient a recent study suggesting that people using Ozempic or Wegovy for treating obesity or type 2 diabetes may...
UK man (91) sees again after artificial cornea implant
A 91-year-old man has become the first patient in England to have his sight saved by an artificial layer in his cornea, with experts saying the...
CRISPR gene-editing improves vision in blind children – US trial
About 79% of clinical trial participants experienced measurable improvement after receiving experimental CRISPR-based gene editing that is designed to fix a rare form of...
Contaminated water linked to soaring KZN pink eye cases
The National Eye Health Advocacy Project believes there could be a link between an outbreak of ‘pink eye’ – conjunctivitis – in KwaZulu-Natal and...
Hospital liable for child’s blindness
Gauteng Health can expect to fork out millions after a court confirmed a child’s blindness resulted from negligence at a state hospital after her...
World’s first human eyeball transplant
American surgeons have performed the world’s first transplant of an entire human eye, an extraordinary addition to a face transplant – although it’s too...
Sickle cell child patients risk same vision issues as adults – US review
Researchers who undertook a large retrospective review on sickle cell disease among children were surprised to find that one in three youngsters had retinotherapy,...
Eye scans spot Parkinson’s risk seven years before symptoms
Research has suggested that Parkinson’s disease can be picked up in eye scans seven years before patients report symptoms to their doctor, a disease...
Gene therapy helps blind teen see again after herpes virus drops
A 14-year-old Cuban youth who spent most of his life blind can now see, after an enterprising Miami doctor had the world’s first topical...
Daily eye drops slow children’s myopia, prevent future damage – Ohio study
The results of a recent three-year clinical trial suggest that the first drug therapy to slow the progression of near-sightedness in children could be...
Eye hospital efficiencies below global benchmarks – SA study
A six-month study of ophthalmology-theatre efficiency in a large tertiary eye hospital in South Africa found that all parameters were below international benchmarks, notes...
Three dead and eight blinded from contaminated eye drops
Eye drops contaminated with a rare bacteria have led to the deaths of three people in the US, and resulted in another eight losing...
Insomnia and snoring linked to glaucoma – global study
A large study with more than 400 000 participants found a link between poor sleep and an increased risk of glaucoma, which can lead...
Bioengineered pig-skin cornea restores sight, treats keratoconus – Swedish study
Researchers have developed a corneal implant made of collagen protein from pig’s skin, their trial showing its success as an alternative to the transplantation...
Cataract removal may reduce dementia risk by 30% – Washington cohort study
Cataract removed in older people might provide them with more than just improved vision, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The study, by...
Declining eyesight boosted by morning exposure to deep red light – UCL study
A single three-minute exposure to long wave deep red light in the morning may significantly improve declining eyesight, finds a pioneering University College London...
Some visual impairments associated with increased risk of dementia
Age-related macular degeneration, cataracts and diabetes-related eye disease - but not glaucoma - are independently associated with increased risk of dementia, found a study...
Optogenetics breakthrough restores partial sight in retinitis pigmentosa
A man blind with retinitis pigmentosa has had glimmers of vision restored using a high-tech treatment using optogenetics, which involves genetically altering nerve cells...
Dry eye disease also negatively affects physical and mental health — UK survey
Patients suffering from dry eye disease symptoms experience negative effects on visual function, activities and work productivity, as well as a lower quality of...
Levodopa may improve vision in patients with macular degeneration
Investigators have determined that treating patients with an advanced form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with levodopa, a safe and readily available drug commonly...
Predictors of laser treatment success in patients with glaucoma
More than 70m people worldwide suffer from glaucoma, a condition that causes a build-up of fluid and pressure inside the eye and can eventually...
Novel alternative to transplantation to treat corneal perforations
A novel alternative to corneal transplantation, a synthetic, biocompatible and adhesive liquid hydrogel, has been developed by researchers and clinicians in North America, Europe, and...
Declining eyesight improved by looking into deep red light
Staring at a deep red light for three minutes a day can significantly improve declining eyesight, finds a new University College London-led study, the...
Interstitial cystitis medication may be toxic to the retina
A drug widely prescribed for a bladder condition for decades, now appears to be toxic to the retina, the light sensing tissue at the...
Low-cost OCT scanner to boost diagnosis of retinal diseases
Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed a low-cost, portable optical coherence tomography (OCT) scanner that promises to bring the vision-saving technology to under-served...
Promising new treatment for severe dry eye disease — clinical trial
Participants in a phase I/II clinical trial of a new enzyme-based treatment for severe dry eye disease experienced reduced signs of disease and discomfort,...
Sight-saving treatment for eye infection or trauma
Scientists at the University of Birmingham have developed a novel eye drop that rapidly reduces sight-threatening scarring to the surface of the eye.
The surface...
Evidence mounts that eye scan may detect early Alzheimer’s
Results from two studies show that a new, non-invasive imaging device can see signs of Alzheimer's disease in a matter of seconds. The researchers...
Mediterranean diet linked to 41% reduced risk of late-stage AMD
Data from two large studies shows that higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with a 41% reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration...
Chiropractic neck manipulation and vision loss
High velocity neck manipulation has been shown to result in stress on the eye and lead to spotty vision. The risk is rare, but...
Ethiopian trial finds trachoma not eliminated by mass antibiotic prophylaxis
Continuous mass distribution of azithromycin in northern Ethiopia, where the childhood eye infection trachoma is a major cause of blindness, is effective in preventing...
Eating oranges may protect against macular degeneration, finds 15-year study
An Australian study over 15-years suggests an independent and protective association between dietary intake of flavonoids and the likelihood of age-related macular degeneration (AMD),...
First 3D printing of human corneas
The first human corneas have been 3D printed by scientists at Newcastle University. It means the technique could be used in the future to...
AMD stem cell treatment restores reading vision
The first patients to receive a new treatment derived from stem cells for people with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have regained reading vision...