A new study provides more insight into cataracts, the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in the elderly, finding that small pieces of a perfectly normal protein become toxic during the aging process.

Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have discovered what chemical in the eye triggers the dormant capacity of certain non-neuronal cells to transform into progenitor cells, a stem-like cell that can generate new retinal cells.

Sinisa Grozdanic, assistant professor of veterinary medicine at Iowa State University, has identified and named an eye disease not previously known. The disease, Immune-Mediated Retinopathy, or IMR, causes loss of function in retinal cells and, in some cases, blindness in canines.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an eye disease that mostly affects elderly, may double risk for heart disease and stroke.

Scientists at the University of Michigan have shown that their new metabolic imaging instrument can accurately detect eye disease at a very early stage. Such a device would be vision-saving because many severe eye diseases do not exhibit early warning signals before they begin to diminish vision.

Ocular melanoma is rarely detected before it has grown large enough to impair vision or to metastasize. This makes it a particularly challenging disease to fight, especially since chemotherapy is not very effective.

White individuals older than 65 are more likely than black individuals to have characteristics that indicate they will develop more advanced forms of the eye disease age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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.

The new £21M home of Wales’ only provider of academic optometry and vision sciences, representing the largest single investment in eye care anywhere in the UK, was unveiled by the First Minister Rhodri Morgan AM.

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.

Purchasing contact lenses online may save consumers time, but the process could cause more problems in the long run, according to a new study reported in the January issue of Optometry: Journal of the American Optometric Association.

In a study published in this week’s PLoS Medicine, researchers have found that more than one species of bacteria may be causing the infectious eye disease trachoma. Six million people – most of whom live in crowded and unhygienic conditions in the developing world – are blind because of the disease and many more are actively infected.