Presbyopia and cataracts are the most prevalent vision-robbing conditions older people. A paper soon to be published in The Lancet (Volume 5, No. 9, e888–e897, September 2017) estimates that, in 2015, 36 million people in the world were blind and 217 million people were severely or moderately vision impaired. It also estimated that 1.1 billion [Read More]
Category: Research and Developments
Can We Trust Clinical Trials?
An analysis published July 19 in Regenerative Medicine reminds us to be cautious about believing everything we read regarding clinical trials. A good case in point is our earlier report about three women who were blinded by an unproven stem cell treatment at a Florida clinic in 2015. They had been misled primarily by thinking that simply [Read More]
Forgetfulness Can Actually Be Good For Us
by Dan Roberts Research published in the June 2017 issue of the journal Neuron (1) suggests that loss of details in our memories may be beneficial to those of us who are visually impaired. Vision is eyesight, memory and logic working together. (2) Visually impaired individuals learn from experience that when eyesight is less clear, [Read More]
New One-time Gene Therapy For Wet AMD Could Replace Regular Injections
A new drug called RGX-314 is being developed as a one-time sub-retinal injection for wet AMD. This would be a significant improvement over current anti-VEGF therapies requiring repetitive and frequent intraocular injections. REGENXBIO Inc. has announced that the first human patient has been dosed in a phase I clinical trial of RGX-314. The drug has [Read More]
Annual Eye Exams For Retinopathy May Be Unnecessary For Some Type 1 Diabetics
Currently, patients who have had type 1 diabetes for 5 years are encouraged to have annual dilated retinal exams to look for possible progression to diabetic retinopathy (DR) or diabetic macular edema (DME). Both of these conditions can lead to severe vision loss and should be treated immediately. Now, a 30-year study* published in April [Read More]