Eyecare professionals should take the opportunity in December to remind their patients that certain toys can represent a danger to their children’s eyes.  

 

In the US, Prevent Blindness America takes the issue very seriously and designates December “Safe Toys and Gifts Month.” The not-for-profit organization offers tips on the best ways to choose a safe toy according to the child’s age and on recognizing dangerous toys on one of its website pages: www.preventblindness.org/make-safe-toys-and-gifts-priority. In addition to tips, it includes data on eye injuries caused by toys.

 

It’s important to note that in the US in 2011 there were 262,300 recorded injuries caused by toys, with the head and face being the body parts most often affected. In Canada, the Canadian Association of Optometrists (CAO) issues regular reminders that thousands of children visit emergency rooms each year over the holiday season due to eye injuries caused by toys.

 

To lessen risks, Health Canada suggests in particular avoiding toys that have sharp points and edges and those with arrows, bullets and missiles, and discarding or repairing old or broken toys. Finally, children who have handled sticky gel or soft plastic toys should wash their hands immediately afterward to prevent chemical residues from irritating their eyes.

Sources:

http://www.preventblindness.org/make-safe-toys-and-gifts-priority

http://www.cnib.ca/en/your-eyes/safety/at-play/Pages/child-eyeinjuries-1207.aspx

 

The 2013 edition of the VisionWatch Survey, carried out for The Vision Council, confirms the role that electronic devices play in eye strain.

 

Among the 7,160 respondents, only 1% does not use any digital devices on a daily basis. Television has the highest daily usage (81.1%), but is most popular among people aged 55 and older. Smart phones (61.7%), laptops (60.9%) and desktops (58.1%) are the next most prominent devices. These devices are particularly popular among the 18 to 34 age group. However, the gap is smaller for the 55 and older age group, indicating that smart phones are becoming more widely adopted by older adults. Finally, 37% of respondents regularly used tablets, while 17.4% used video game consoles.

 

All these devices take a toll on our eyes. Taken together, we use them over many hours every day. A third of respondents use them from 3 to 5 hours a day and a similar proportion use them between 6 and 9 hours a day. Along with neck and shoulder pain, eye strain is the most common symptom reported by users. Over 73% of participants described the symptoms as annoying or irritating, but one out of twenty described the discomfort as painful or excruciating.

 

Almost 40% of the study participants having experienced discomfort have tried to reduce their symptoms; however, many did not know what to do, particularly younger respondents. It is clear that eyecare professionals have become an important source of information and advice on how to decrease irritation.

Source:

www.visionexpoeast.com/Press/Vision-Voice-Newsletter/Research-Article-November-2013/

 

 

 

 

A study, the results of which were published in Optometry and Vision Science, shows that anisometropia is more prevalent in older adults.

 

The researchers followed 118 patients over 12 years. Their average age was 67 at the start of the study and 79 at the end. During this period, the prevalence of anisometropia, which is a significant difference in vision between the eyes, almost doubled. When the patients approached 80 years of age, 32% had the condition.

 

Most cases were related to differing degrees of farsightedness between the eyes. Others were caused by unequal blurring of the lens of the eye, even though none of the subjects had cataracts as such.

 

Differences could begin to occur at any age, and a few patients actually saw their anisometropia decrease over the course of the study.

 

“Whatever the cause of the increase in anisometropia with aging, the fact that significant anisometropia is at least ten times more common in those over 75 years of age than in children needs to be clearly emphasized to clinicians,” says the study’s authors.

 

“Uncorrected anisometropia is likely to lead to disturbances in binocular vision and stereopsis, which in turn may contribute to falls in the elderly,” says Gunilla Haegerstrom-Portnoy, lead author and professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131126155834.htm

 

Oral contraceptives may be a risk factor for glaucoma, according to a study presented at the recent annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

 

The study was led by the University of California, Duke University, in North Carolina, and Nanchang University, in China. The scientists based their research on the medical records of 3,406 American women aged 40 years or older. They discovered that the women who had taken oral contraceptives for three or more years, regardless of the type, were 2.05 times more likely to develop glaucoma.

 

The study found no direct causal link between the contraceptives and glaucoma, but indicates that long-term use of the products could be a potential risk factor for glaucoma. “This study should be an impetus for future research to prove the cause and effect of oral contraceptives and glaucoma,” said Shan Lin, lead researcher, from the University of California San Francisco. “At this point, women who have taken oral contraceptives for three or more years should be screened for glaucoma and followed closely by an ophthalmologist, especially if they have any other existing risk factors.”

Source:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131118091418.htm

 

In France, the Institut de la Vision inaugurated the Artificial Street on November 26, 2013. This is a research and development environment that supports the creation of technologies and treatments to assist people with impaired vision.

 

The new platform, called STREETlab, resembles a basic commercial street. But it is in fact a forum for research and development available to researchers and the sector’s manufacturers. It contains sophisticated equipment used to control the parameters of the environment – lighting, ambient sound, decorative features – and to quantitatively assess the improvement in living conditions of people who participate in the tests, for instance in mobility. Standardized tasks can be developed within an environment that reproduces various concrete situations.

 

The platform also monitors the behaviour of visually impaired people, using biometric sensors to analyze movement, eye trackers to analyze visual strategies, or infrared cameras to help follow and record experiences.

 

One of the first projects to use the Artificial Street focuses on motor ability and low vision. The objective is to identify optimal strategies for visual movement in patients with advanced retinitis pigmentosa in tasks such as locomotion or visual research.

Source:

http://www.institut-vision.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=361%3Ainaugurationstreetlab&catid=1%3Aactualites&Itemid=27&lang=fr