Vision Improvement Site

Now you have one more reason to stay off high sugar-content foods: they have been discovered to increase the chances of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - the number one cause of vision loss in USA.

Specifically it’s the simple sugars, such as those found in refined white rice, which are easily digested and absorbed into the bloodstream that is the main culprit.  They cause sudden increases in blood sugar levels.

If you can’t overcome your sweet tooth, the alternative solution is to go for foods high in complex sugars. These take a much longer time to digest and hence do not cause surges in blood sugar content.

[Source: WedMD]

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Worried about deteriorating eyesight because you play too much computer games?

Don’t fret, all you have to do is to play the right game and your eyesight will improve.

Good vision is not simply about how near-sighted or far-sighted you are. It also includes elements like hand-eye coordination, eye agility, reaction time and peripheral vision.

Now a new game on Nintendo DS due to be launched in October 2007 promises to improve those.

Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day is designed to help users sharpen their “Focus Power” with a series of fun tests of hand-eye coordination, eye agility, reaction time and peripheral vision.

Top-rated athletes have long used computerized vision trainers to help them take better aim before they swing at the ball.

Now Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day puts this same technology into the palm of your hands. The title launches on Oct 15 in the Americas.

Screenshots and video are from the Japanese version of the game.

The exercises are in the form of sports and puzzle games. You have to tap on the appropriate place with the DS stylus in response to various stimuli.

At the end of the exercise, players were given an “Eye Age”. The game explained “If your eye age is younger than you are, you have superb focus! If not…you have great potential for superb focus.”

That’s certainly music to my ears.

[Source: Nintendo - includes a short video clip of the game]

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The FDA has cleared a new CustomVue Monovision Lasik device for use.

Its innovation is that it corrects fully the myopia in the dominant eye for distance vision, but only corrects partly the less dominant eye to help it in near vision.

To be honest, it doesn’t sound like much of an innovation. Existing LASIK machines can be tuned for different degrees of correction, why not just have different settings for each eye?

Also, using one eye for distance vision and another for near vision means that you might be discouraging convergence of the eyes - a coordinated turning of the eyes to bear upon a near point.

Stereoscopic or 3-D vision is also lost, as that requires fusing of the signals from both eyes.

Patients considering this option should look at natural vision improvement methods first. The Bates method and eye exercises help to encourage near and far fusion, which could be extremely helpful in this case.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it cleared the first Lasik device to correct one of a patient’s eyes to see far and the other eye to see objects close-up.

The product, the CustomVue Monovision Lasik device, is made by Advanced Medical Optics Inc., one of the biggest eye care companies in the U.S.

The laser device works by correcting for all the nearsightedness to help distance vision in a patient’s dominant eye, while fixing only part of the nearsightedness in the less dominant eye, which helps close-up vision, the FDA said.

The FDA said it asked that the company conduct a study tracking 500 patients for six months after surgery, to check for potential visual disturbances that could limit activities or worsen a patient’s quality of life.

Advanced Medical Optics is currently in a bidding war to take over rival Bausch & Lomb Inc..

[Source: Reuters]

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A 68 year-old pensioner in UK is forced to pay for hugely expensive treatments for his wife’s eye problems because the national health insurance has refused his application.

The treatment for her wet macular degeneration costs a stunning 800 pounds (US$1,600) a pop. It could cost as much as US$2,000 in other countries.

He is obviously unlucky. No matter how much savings you have accumulated, it’s going to get depleted alarmingly fast at that rate.

So what is macular degeneration, and what can you do about it?

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a medical condition predominantly found in elderly adults in which the center of the inner lining of the eye, known as the macula area of the retina, suffers thinning, atrophy, and in some cases bleeding.

A combination of high-dose beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and zinc can reduce the risk of developing advanced AMD by about 25 percent in those patients who have earlier but significant forms of the disease. This is the only proven intervention to decrease the risk of advanced AMD at this time.

Do make sure you get enough of those nutrients. Other possible preventive foods include fish oil.

AMD is also associated with high blood pressure. So do palming regularly to reduce the press in your eye balls, and this should help reduce the risk further.

[Source: Exmouth Journal]

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LASIK technology is getting more sophisticated by the day. There’s plain-vanilla LASIK , wavefront LASIK, EpiLASIK, and now IntraLASIK (If you thought that was a typo, IntraLase is actually the brand-name of the laser machine while IntraLasik is the procedure).

With conventional LASIK surgery, the corneal layer is peeled back using a blade before the laser is used to vaporize part of the corneal tissue. The use of femtosecond lasers accomplishes the same task with far greater accuracy.

In the procedure, known as intraLASIK, a tiny bubble of water and carbon dioxide is created when an intense but short burst of laser is directed at a specific point. When many of those bubbles connect in a sheet at a pre-determined depth, a flap is created which could then be lifted for the procedure to continue.

Given intraLASIK’s greater accuracy, nine out of 10 heavily myopic patients can be operated on.

If you thought you’re ineligible for LASIK surgery, this might just change your mind.

[Source: Taipei Times]

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LASIK is so common nowadays that people forget that it’s a form of surgery. And that’s always risky. So here’re some common sense tips to minimise your inconveniences.

What to expect before, during, and after surgery will vary from doctor to doctor and patient to patient. This section is a compilation of patient information developed by manufacturers and healthcare professionals, but cannot replace the dialogue you should have with your doctor. Read this information carefully and with the checklist, discuss your expectations with your doctor.

Continue Reading »

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Doctors are about to begin testing whether fish oils could prevent a disease that strikes about 16,000 premature infants in USA a year, and blinds hundreds.

The numbers are not that great but the consequences are serious. Preventing the disease called retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a major goal, because there’s no sure way to save vision once it strikes.

The same abnormal growth of blood vessels behind ROP also triggers two leading causes of blindness in adults: diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration.

Already, scientists are studying if these omega-3 fatty acids, the same kind touted for heart health, could protect adult eyes, too.

So it makes sense to incorporate omega-3 fatty acids into your diet, either through greater consumption of fish or health supplements. Eat a well-balanced, nutritious diet and your eyes will thank you for it.

[Source: Fox News]

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