Eye Drops to the Rescue
Eye drops are great. They help lubricate dry eye. They get rid of red eye. They can also be used to treat a condition like diabetic edema, macular degeneration and may prevent vision loss after retinal vein occlusion. Two studies, one done at the University of New South Wales in Australia and another at Columbia […]
Preventing Vision Loss
The causes behind vision loss from conditions such a macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy are complex and are not just one thing but a cascade of cellular and genetic actions that lead to blindness for millions of people. What if there was a way to stop the negative cascade from happening and preserve vision? Thanks […]
Cutting the Fat & Turning Back the Clock
During the coronavirus lockdown, many people used this time to exercise more. As a result, their clothes aren’t as tight and they felt better. The bad thing about the lockdown is that it led to a lot of shortages, like toilet paper. Too bad we can’t turn back the clock to February 2020 and stock […]
Research
Thanks to biomedical research, our understanding of the human body is evolving and this has led to treatments that improve health outcomes. This includes vision research and as a result, more is being learned about what leads to amblyopia and a possible treatment for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Amblyopia Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye, […]
Good for One, Bad for Another
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is a protein that our bodies produce to promote the growth of new blood vessels. This is a good thing since more blood vessels mean more oxygen goes to the tissues. The lungs have VEGF because blood flow is so important. Of course, what’s good for one organ isn’t good […]
On/Off Switches Part Two
In On/Off Switches Part One I wrote about research done at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) that discovered a compound that controls the growth of blood vessels. This can be utilized for conditions ranging from diabetic retinopathy to cancer. They aren’t the only ones doing this type of research. Scientists at Johns Hopkins have […]
On/Off Switches Part One
Isn’t electricity great? You flip a switch and an appliance turns on or off. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a way to do something similar for our bodies, in particular our eyes. That way when an injury or disease comes along, something in the cellular level could be turned on or off and […]
Immune System & Eye Disease: More than Meets the Eye
Having an immune system is a good thing. It deals with bacteria and viruses, so that either we don’t get sick or if we do, our body fights them off and, for the most part, sickness isn’t fatal. Sometimes our immune system doesn’t work the way we want it to. That can range from an […]
Myopia Can Be Reversed In Children With Bifocal Contacts
True confession: I’ve been wearing glasses since I was 10 years-old. It didn’t bother me to wear glasses because I was so pleased to be able to see the chalkboard clearly. For me, wearing glasses was a simple thing I could do to maintain good grades. Many kids aren’t like me in that they aren’t […]
The Eyes Have It & Research Proves It
The eye is a cool organ. Our eyes allow us to move about our world and make sense of all that we see. In fact, many in the medical and scientific community view the eye as the front of the brain. (No pun intended.) That leads to two questions: 1) If the eye lens sustained […]