A research team at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona has developed a new iPad application that can screen for visual contrast loss in Parkinson’s patients.

Patients with Parkinson’s disease may experience a number of eye problems either as a symptom of the disease itself or as a side effect of medication. These problems include blurred vision, dry eyes, involuntary closure of the eyelids (blepharospasms) and loss of contrast and colour sensitivity.

Because patients with Parkinson’s disease often have normal high-contrast vision, a reduction in low-contrast visual acuity is often missed by routine eye exams. An iPad version of a variable-contrast acuity chart was shown to the patients at close (40 cm) and far (2 m) distances. Parkinson’s patients had significantly worse vision for the low-contrast images at both distances than control subjects.

The degree of a patient’s low-contrast visual deficiency correlates to the severity of Parkinson’s disease, which suggests that these visual tests could serve as a method for diagnosing Parkinson’s and measuring the effectiveness of treatments.

Further information: http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=150140&CultureCode=en

Eyelashes are the first line of defense for the eyes, shielding them from windborne particles like dust or pollen. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology used a wind tunnel that determined the best optimal, lash length is one-third the width of the eye.

Shorter eyelashes do not offer enough protection, while longer eyelashes actually channel air currents towards the eye. Lashes that are just right will minimize the number of particles hitting the eye.

Eye lashes the length of one third the eye’s width were found in at least 22 species of mammals including humans, giraffes and hedgehogs.

These findings could help create artificial eyelashes out of filaments to protect sensitive electronics in dusty environments.

Further information: http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/12/105/20141294

Orthokeratology may be effective at slowing the progression of myopia in children, according to the results of a meta-analysis published in Optometry and Vision Science.

Orthokeratology (ortho-K), the wearing of custom rigid contact lenses at night, is believed to control myopia in children by shaping the growth of the eye.

The results, gathered from seven separate studies, included data on 435 myopic children between the ages of six and sixteen. The studies measured the increase in axial length over time. After a two-year period it was found that the average difference in axial growth between the group of children receiving the ortho-K treatment and the group without was a quarter of a millimetre.

Despite the findings, the Canadian Ophthalmological Society does not endorse the use of ortho-K due to the risk of contracting microbial keratitis associated with the overnight wearing of rigid contact lenses.

For more information: http://www.cos-sco.ca/advocacy-news/position-policy-statements/orthokeratology-myopia/