Vinyl Factory launches Finch. This vintage frame combines acetate and stainless steel, and features ceramic nosepads and Vinyl Factory signed flat mirror lenses. A precious model, issued in limited edition.
Stand Out from the Rest with Finch
Marcolin and Dsquared2 Renew Licence Agreement
Marcolin Group and Dsquared2 announced on May 24th the early renewal of an exclusive license agreement for the design, manufacture and worldwide distribution of Dsquared2 sun and optical eyewear.
The agreement extends the current partnership duration until 2021.
Click HERE for the full press release.
First Successful Skin-To-Eye Stem Cell Transplant
Researchers from RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, presented results for a patient one year after the first ever skin-to-eye stem cell transplant at the Association for Research in Vision and Optometry (ARVO) Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington.
The 70-year-old patient had wet AMD that was unresponsive to other treatment methods. Skin from the patient’s arm was modified into induced pluripotent stem cells, which are stem cells generated directly from adult cells, then transformed into retinal pigment epithelium. This sheet of RPE cells were then transplanted into the back of the patient’s eye.
One year out from the surgery, the patient’s visual acuity was maintained at the same level (18/200) without the use of anti-VEGF treatments, and the patient’s Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25) score improved from 40.7 to 58.3.
Further information:”Transplantation of Autologous induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Derived Retinal Pigment Epithelium Cell Sheets for Exudative Age Related Macular Degeneration : A Pilot Clinical Study”
New Styles at Julbo
The collections are spicy this spring at Julbo, a pioneer of sunglasses for kids and teens. For the girls, Lola delivers comfort and head-turning looks, while for the rough and tumble boys, Rookie (photo) elicits admiration while providing total eye safety.
Health Canada Approves Smartphone-based Autorefractor
Smart Vision Labs, maker of portable, smart autorefractors, successfully registered the SVOne Pro autorefractor in Canada as a Class II medical device, and received a Canadian Medical Device License through Health Canada.
The SVOne Pro is a handheld Shack-Hartmann wavefront aberrometer for accurately measuring objective refractive error in children and adults.
“Receiving our Canadian Medical Device License is a significant step forward in the commercialization of SVOne in Canada,” said COO and co-founder Marc Albanese. “We’ve had a lot of interest from this market. With the Health Canada approval, our company’s mission to increase access to vision care globally will be even more attainable.”
An evaluation of the SVOne by Drs. Ciuffreda and Rosenfield of SUNY College of Optometry was published in the December 2015 issue of Optometry and Vision Science. The SVOne was compared with retinoscopy, subjective refraction and two commercially available autorefractors in 50 visually normal young adults.
The results showed that the SVOne aberrometer provided measurements “not significantly different from other subjective and objective procedures,” and that the SVOne is “valuable for vision screenings, as well as examinations taking place outside the clinical office.”
