Lissamine green sounds like the latest cleaning sensation being hawked on television and probably not something you would want to get in your eyes. But a few properly placed drops can reveal staining patterns that are key to diagnosing dry eye syndrome earlier than other methods, providing doctors more options for treating the potentially sight-stealing disease, new research at UT Southwestern Medical Center confirms.

Current and past smokers appear to have a higher risk of developing late age-related macular degeneration than those who have never smoked, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

A newly developed method for coating the intraocular lenses (IOLs) used in millions of cataract surgery procedures may prevent a common complication of cataract surgery, according to a report scheduled for the Aug. 13 issue of ACS’ Biomacromolecules, a monthly journal. Such surgery corrects the vision loss that occurs when the lens of the eye becomes clouded.

In a paper published in the journal Science, scientists from deCODE genetics and academic colleagues from the National University Hospital in Reykjavik and Uppsala University in Sweden report the discovery of two common single letter variations (SNPs) in the sequence of the human genome that appear to account for virtually all cases of a major subtype of glaucoma.

UK scientists have shown for the first time that key proteins involved in Alzheimer's disease are also implicated in glaucoma, the major cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Research carried out at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and funded by the Wellcome Trust has also shown that novel drugs being trialled for Alzheimer's disease which target this protein may be used to treat glaucoma.

Two papers to be published in the Early Edition online of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of July 30-August 3, 2007 report findings that demonstrate that neuroprotectin D1 (NPD1) protects against damage to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and identifies an important trigger for its production and novel molecular mechanisms that support vision.

A new paper published in the July 1 issue of OSA's Optics Letters shows that researchers in Australia have created a new one-step test that uses holograms to diagnose the astigmatic error of the human eye, a key measurement in determining the appropriate prescriptions for eye glasses in patients.

A protein long thought to be one of the body's supporting players has quietly been taking a lead role in healthy eyesight, a discovery that could rapidly lead to treatments for babies born before their eyes are finished growing, University of Florida and Harvard Medical School researchers have found.

A unique nanoparticle made in a laboratory at the University of Central Florida is proving promising as a drug delivery device for treating glaucoma, an eye disease that can cause blindness and affects millions of people worldwide.

A growing and exhaustive body of scientific evidence supporting lutein's eye health benefits is the primary reason driving the growth of this market globally. Several studies have documented the beneficial effects of eating a diet rich in lutein, such as reducing the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataract and even slowing the progression of the disease.

Michael Marmor, MD, wanted to know what it was like to see through the eyes of an artist. Literally. After writing two books on the topic of artists and eye disease, the Stanford University School of Medicine ophthalmologist decided to go one step further and create images that would show how artists with eye disease actually saw their world and their canvases.

One donor cornea may be divided and transplanted into multiple patients with eye disease or damage, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.