The injection of gas into the eye, as is performed in various ophthalmic surgical procedures, can cause blindness by expanding the eye. This rare but serious problem is described by a team of anesthesiologists and ophthalmologists from the Essen (Germany) University Clinic in the current issue of Deutsches Дrzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105(6): 108-12).

Diaton tonometer – Glaucoma Exam through the Eyelid is presented at SECO International on Feb 27-March 2. Diaton tonometry will be showcased by an industry leader in pre-owned and new optical and ophthalmic equipment Vision Systems Inc (VSI). BiCOM Inc. will support with demo and training at Booth 1243.

USC and Second Sight Medical Products Inc, leading developers of retinal prostheses for treating blindness, announced today that they have completed enrollment of the first phase of a U.S .FDA approved clinical study of the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System. They also announced that enrollment at key European sites is underway as studies continue in Mexico.

Trans-scleral and Trans-palpebral (through the Eyelid) Tonometry now allows surgeons to determine Intra-Ocular Pressure (IOP) shortly after the surgery. The Congress and Exhibition of the 12th ESCRS Winter Meeting is being held in Barcelona, Spain. BiCOM, Inc. represents and supports tonometer Diation in over 30 countries.

An innovative device (Tonometer Diaton) has turned screening for glaucoma into a safe, easy procedure, performed through the eyelid and without the use of anesthetic drops.

Did you know that High Eye Pressure may lead to Glaucoma and even Blindness? BiCOM Inc., with its new Tonometer Diaton now allows to painlessly test eye pressure through the Eyelid without contact with the cornea, use of anesthesia, or risk of infection. What better month than January, Glaucoma Awareness Month, to visit your eye doctor, ask them about Tonometry, and get your eyes fully checked.

Blind cavefish whose eyes have withered while living in complete darkness over the course of evolutionary time can be made to see again, according to a report in the January 8th Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press.

Subjects like physics, calculus and biology are challenging for most students, but imagine tackling these topics without being able to see the graphs and figures used to teach them. A new smartpen and paper technology that works with touch and records classroom audio aims to bring these subjects to life for blind students.

"We have unequivocally observed that CMV retinitis is causing blindness in a young population in developing countries, even though the full scope of the problem remains to be defined," says an international team of 14 eye doctors, HIV specialists, and medical and humanitarian aid workers in this week's PLoS Medicine.

With 8 million people at high risk for advanced age-related macular degeneration, researchers from Harvard and Japan discovered that the experimental drug, endostatin, may be the cure.

Mutant mice could provide genetic clues to understanding incurable human sight loss resulting from retinal degeneration. Research published in the online open access journal Genome Biology uncovers a role for microRNA in retinal disease, and may point the way to future therapies.

Three decades have passed since gene therapy pioneer William W. Hauswirth, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of Florida began work on a virus that could safely deliver corrective genes into living animals.