Blog

July 31, 2017April 24, 2018

Visique Expands with New Clinics Opening in the Greater Metropolitain Area

Quebec City, QC – Visique banner is already expanding and opening two new optometry clinics this week in the Metropolitain area. One situated in Brossard, at DIX30 and the other in Pointe-Claire.

These new clinics give Visique the opportunity to grow their network in more regions of Québec. « Visique is committed to provide the personal eye care and quality for their patients. By opening 2 new clinics, our brand is proving its importance in the Québec market, this confirmed by Dr. Frédéric Marchand, Optometrist and Vice-President of Visique in Québec. Both clinics at DIX30 and Pointe-Claire were specifically chosen to respond to patient demand in those regions. They can benefit by the advanced technology and sophisticated equipment to obtain precise diagnostic concerning their eye health. »

Visique will continue to grow across Québec, and more specifically a new clinic opening this fall in Lachenaie on the North Shore of Montreal.

Visique announced in June that it would regroup 45 clinics and 78 optometrists under one unified banner.

Click HERE for the full press release.

July 28, 2017April 24, 2018

The World Council of Optometry 90th Anniversary

2017 Marks World Council of Optometry’s (WCO) 90 Year Anniversary.

Honoured to be a founding partner of Optometry Giving Sight and represented on its global executive board, the World Council of Optometry (WCO) collectively represents over 200,000 optometrists in almost 60 countries through over 200 affiliates, associate, corporate and individual memberships across six world regions: Africa, Asia Pacific, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Latin America and North America.

Celebrating its 90-year anniversary in 2017, the WCO’s vision is of a world where optometry makes high quality eye health and vision care accessible to all people.

Recent and ongoing WCO activities include:

Collaborating with strategic partners including Optometry Giving Sight to advance the provision of eye and vision care worldwide. Working together, we have seen the launch of Our Children’s Vision (OCV), a worldwide initiative whose initial target is to provide eye care services to 50 million children by 2020.

Coordinating support by WCO members in response to various regulatory issues in Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malawi, Mexico and others.
Continuing advocacy workshops in Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean region and India.
Developing optometry practitioner mapping to determine manpower and education needs.
Preparing to hold the 2nd World Congress of Optometry in September 2017 in Hyderabad, India, and hosting the second President’s Forum to enable wider engagement with the profession.

Click HERE for full press release.

July 27, 2017May 19, 2026

Dark Spots on Iris May Be Caused by Sun Exposure

In a study well-timed for summer, vision scientists have found that eye freckles (dark spots on the iris) are more frequently found in people with higher lifetime exposure to sunlight. While not malignant, eye freckles could indicate the presence or risk of sunlight-triggered eye diseases like cataract or macular degeneration.

The study was published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. Over 600 swimmers at public pools in Styria, Austria had their eyes examined for freckles and filled out a questionnaire that asked about their lifetime sun exposure and sun-protection habits.

The researchers found that the development of eye freckles correlated with increasing age, lifetime number of sunburns and a history of severe sunburns resulting in blisters. The results also showed that people with dark coloured eyes were less likely to have eye freckles, as well as those who maintained better sun protection habits like using sunscreen or covering up.

One unexpected finding was the uneven positioning of freckles on the eye. Freckles were most commonly found in the lower outer quadrant (away from the nose) of each eye. The researchers hypothesized this may be because the eyebrow and nose shield the upper and inner quadrants of the eye from the sun, lowering exposure and the risk of developing freckles.

“While we do not know the exact role of sunlight in several eye diseases, we now have a biomarker (iris freckles) indicating high amounts of chronic sunlight exposure,” says author Christoph Schwab, MD, ophthalmologist at the Medical University of Graz, Austria.

Read the original study here.

July 26, 2017May 20, 2026

Falkous is Anything but Boring

Why so serious? And who said that optical frames had to be boring? Vinyl Factory is shaking the conventional with its FALKOUS! A pair of specs that flees from sobriety while having a classy design!

Distributed by Optiman Inc. : www.optimaninc.com

July 26, 2017April 24, 2018

Laser Treatment Reduces Eye Floaters

Floaters can impact vision quality, and often get worse as we age. Treatment options are limited to surgery, patient observation and education, and laser treatment. A new study published in JAMA Ophthalmology aims at evaluating the effectiveness and safety of laser treatment at reducing floater symptoms.

The treatment is known as YAG laser vitreolysis, which uses nano-second laser pulses to vapourize the opaque vitreous strands that are perceived as “floaters” in our vision.

The study, conducted by the Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston, divided 52 patients into two groups, one which received YAG laser treatment, the other group acting as a control receiving sham treatment.

After six months, 54% of the group receiving the treatment reported “significant or complete” improvement in floater-related disturbances, while no patients in the control group reported significant improvement. No adverse effects were reported by either group, within the the short (six months) follow-up period.

Click here to read the complete article.