Prevent Blindness wants all Americans to know that 14% of all injuries from fireworks are to the eyes, and that contusions, lacerations, and foreign bodies in the eyes occurred more frequently than burns to other parts of the body. Here are more important statistics from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: Fireworks devices were involved […]
Transcript of a presentation to the International Low Vision Support Group June 2018 Dan Roberts, Director Select this link for audio-visual format INTRODUCTION This is our 13th annual summary of leading research and developments occuring during the past 12 months in the fields of blindness and low vision. Sources for further information will appear beneath […]
by Dan Roberts What do these six famous people have in common? They are all different in many ways, but they each possess at least one characteristic which sets them apart. They have a strong sense of empathy, making it impossible for them to remain silent in the face of adversity. They all believe in […]
Degeneration of photoreceptors (rod and cone cells) is a leading cause of vision loss. Since there are no effective treatments to restore vision once photoreceptors are lost, photoreceptor regeneration has the very real prospect of alleviating blindness in these eyes. To that end, a recent innovative study has demonstrated the possibility of reprogramming Müller glial […]
Studies in France and the Netherlands have shown that a Mediterranean diet is linked to a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Researchers investigated the effects of such a diet on a large sample from subjects from two population-based prospective studies. The diet consists of more than median intakes of vegetables, fruits, legumes, cereals, […]
One of the frustrations of visual impairment is the difficulty of explaining our vision to others. We often hear things like, “How did you see that? I thought you were blind!” Another issue we deal with is how to personally keep track of our vision changes throughout the progression of our disease. Our eye doctors have […]
by Dan Roberts Autonomous (driverless) vehicles are on the way. The technology is already in place, having been successfully tested for several years under every city and highway traveling condition. Many automakers report that their new cars are now being equipped for driverless operation, so the change-over will be easy when the time comes. And […]
The U.S. Congress has increased spending to a number of programs that impact vision and eye health in its Fiscal Year 2018 “omnibus” legislation. As a result of advocacy by Prevent Blindness and its affiliates, partners, and advocates across the country, the FY2018 Labor-HHS-Education legislation increases funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]
Natural history investigation will deploy latest advances to identify biomarkers, targets for early therapy A new clinical study led by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, will follow 500 people over five years to learn more about the natural history of early age-related macular degeneration (AMD). By using the […]
A new procedure reported in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology has been shown to be a safe and effective method for introducing stem cells into the retina. Implantation of a specially engineered patch of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells derived from stem cells has restored some vision in two people with sight loss from […]