Blog

August 31, 2020August 31, 2020

Opti 2021 Affirms Safety Priority for First Trade Show in a Year

Opti 2021 will be the first optical trade fair of the new year and the first within a year. Usually held in the Bavarian city of Munich, Opti 2021 will be held January 8-10 in Stuttgart, on the edge of the German Black Forest area.

In collaboration with the venue owner, and under the exacting guidelines of the state of Baden-Wuerttemburg, the organizers have drawn up an extensive hygiene concept for the event.

Event organizers are counting on the event providing the industry with much needed momentum after the economic downfall created by the COVID pandemic.

Jörn Holtmeier, Managing Director of the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA) broadens the perspective and confirms the measures: “Recently, the German trade fair organisers have developed comprehensive hygiene and distance concepts in coordination with the health authorities. They guarantee a very high level of health protection for all persons participating in trade fairs in Germany in the upcoming months”.

While COVID cases hit Germany hard at the outset, the country’s robust health care system has handled it extremely well; Germany has a COVID fatality rate of 1.6% that is substantially lower than the 10%-12% experienced by neighbouring European countries.

There are no restrictions for Canadians travelling to Germany, but the Canadian Government continues to advise against non-essential travel to the country. As of end of August, the German government continues to deny entry to U.S. citizens traveling from the United States, according to the US embassy page.

Click HERE for more information on Opti 2021.

August 31, 2020August 31, 2020

Help Support World Sight Day Challenge

Optometry Giving Sight’s support of Ver Bien in Mexico has helped many school children receive the eye care they desperately need. Approximately 12% of public-school children in Mexico suffer from a refractive error which can be corrected with glasses.

Many of these children have no access to eye health services because they live in rural communities in Mexico. Even when services are brought to their towns, families often don’t have the resources to pay for them. Ver Bien goes directly to public schools with optometrists who perform eye exams to check for diseases and refractive errors. When glasses are required, they are delivered at no cost.

Claudia (pictured) was one of the students helped through Optometry Giving Sight’s support of Ver Bien.

Claudia’s life with poor vision was very challenging. Seeing her schoolwork was difficult and she was often afraid when walking the 3 kms along the river to school.

The day she received a pair of glasses through the program, everything in her life changed:

Today is the day she received her first ever pair of glasses.

A few months ago, Claudia’s school was invited to participate in a school screening program implemented by Ver Bien and funded by Optometry Giving Sight.

Having a comprehensive eye examination and the correctly prescribed glasses is helping Claudia greatly improve the quality of her life. Her teacher noticed the difference in Claudia’s behavior and feels happy for her student’s new clear-sighted joy.

Click HERE to support the World Sight Day Challenge to help more children like Claudia.

Click HERE for the full press release.

August 28, 2020August 25, 2020

CNIB Announces New Partnership with LEARNstyle

CNIB has signed a new partnership agreement with LEARNstyle, experts in specialized education and assistive technology training.

Through this exciting new partnership, LEARNstyle will provide high-quality, specialized training to support Ontario teachers and students in their journey to take full advantage of accessible products, technology and software solutions offered by CNIB – all designed to empower students to live with confidence and independence.

LEARNstyle’s unique software and strategy-based training approach works to support learning independence from a diverse spectrum of students, from those with learning disabilities to those who are blind or partially sighted.

“LEARNstyle’s experience working with students of all abilities, including those with sight loss, is a huge asset in supporting CNIB’s mission,” says Shane Silver, Vice President of Social Enterprise and Innovation at CNIB. “By leveraging their best-in-class training software and expertise, students with sight loss and their teachers will be able to get the most out of their assistive technology or products, while benefiting from LEARNstyle’s seamless integration at home and in the classroom.”

Today, LEARNstyle serves more than 60 school districts and boards in the province of Ontario and is uniquely positioned to expand and adapt their service offerings to include more provinces across the country. The Ontario-based organization will also be expanding their services to include French language learners and educators.

“Over the last 12 years, LEARNstyle has come to fully appreciate how partnerships can positively impact the trajectory of a person’s life journey,” says DJ Cunningham, CEO of LEARNstyle. “This partnership between CNIB and LEARNstyle brings together two organizations with a shared passion to empower blind and low vision individuals in Canada to achieve their goals and their full potential. We look forward to the path ahead with a high level of enthusiasm and excitement that is also brought forth by everyone at CNIB.”

Click HERE for the full press release.

August 28, 2020August 27, 2020

The Facts About Blue Light

In this article, Optik Magazine contributor Dr. Cheryl N. Zimmer, OD discusses the impact of blue light on ocular health and what ECPs should advise patients.

In 2018, an experimental, cellular study showed that blue light excited retinal isomers, irreversibly disrupting phospholipids and inducing toxicity. This and other laboratory studies have shown that blue light can damage cells, but these conclusions should not be extrapolated to mean that blue light damages the human retina.

Copious amounts of research have shown that exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light can damage the crystalline lens and retina, resulting in cataracts and age-related macular degeneration, respectively.

However, human studies of blue light exposure are lacking. Although laboratory data can be pivotal, it is important not to directly apply it to clinical situations.

Blue Light: Sleep and Migraines

What is certain, is that blue light directly impacts our sleep. The National Institutes of Health defines circadian rhythms as the physical, mental, and behavioural changes that follow a daily cycle, responding primarily to environmental light and darkness, helping to determine our sleep patterns.

It is also well known than that migraine headaches are exacerbated by bright lights and associated with photophobia. Recent studies show that that green light exacerbates migraine headaches less than white, blue, amber, or red light. These results correlate well with an older study that found that rose-coloured glasses, which filter blue light, significantly reduced migraine frequency in children over a 4-month period, from 6.2 migraines per month to just 1.6 per month.

To find out more on the effects of blue light on sleep, brain injuries and migraines, read the full article by Dr. Zimmer in the August-September issue of Optik.

Information for your patients:

Get outside and enjoy the light in the morning, especially if you have experienced a concussion or mild traumatic brain injury. It will help you become wakeful and alert (but wear sunscreen and sunglasses to protect you from UV exposure).
Stop using your digital devices about one to two hours prior to going to bed to get the melatonin flowing and help you sleep soundly. If this is not feasible, there are apps available for most digital devices that decrease the amount of blue light emitted by the screen, or if necessary, invest in lenses with a blue light filter for evening use.
If you or your child suffer from migraines, blue-blocking lenses my offer comfort and reduce migraine frequency.

Click HERE to read the full article on blue light.

August 28, 2020August 27, 2020

AAOF Announces 2020 Johnson & Johnson Vision Residency Award Recipients

The American Academy of Optometry Foundation (AAOF) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2020 Johnson & Johnson Vision Residency Awards.

These residency awards support post-graduate advanced training in optometric clinical care, education, and research methods specific to the fields of children’s vision and contact lenses. The 2020 residents were chosen by peer review members from the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) Section on Cornea, Contact Lenses & Refractive Technologies, and the Binocular Vision, Perception and Pediatric Optometry Section. Each recipient will receive $2,000 toward their graduate education.

Click HERE for the full press release.