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Thank you very much for taking the time to sign up for the No Blur! EyeMail Newsletter. The No Blur! EyeMail Newsletter is sent out approximately four times per year. The newsletter will contain the most recent developments in eyecare today, interesting information about your eyes, as well as a fun item. You can view the previous No Blur! EyeMails by clicking the online archive icon above. You can also send any comments or suggestions about the No Blur! EyeMail down in the related links section below.

 
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A Message From Dr. Maller

The other day I was in a store making a purchase, when the salesman turned to me and asked, "Are you some type of eye doctor?" I responded "Yes." He then began to tell me how his wife for at least three decades and after attempting hundreds of different types of contact lenses, still cannot find success with contact lenses. I asked if he knew the reason why she has had such difficulty and he replied, "She has astigmatism." Despite amazing advances in contact lens technology, I am still surprised at the number of people that I will encounter on a daily basis who relay the same story. "I was told that I can't wear contact lenses because I have astigmatism" is the general sentiment that these people will lament. Obviously, as a physician who has devoted practice to contact lenses, I find this absurd, but this problem continues to linger. You can read and learn more about astigmatism and contact lenses right here. Although I seriously doubt that my salesman's wife literally tried hundreds of types of contact lenses, I am sure she tried enough lenses to feel as though this thing called astigmatism has effectively defeated her ability to ever wear any contact lens successfully. This is very sad. I am certain that when she comes in to see me in a couple of months I will be able to fit her so successfully into contact lenses that she will wonder how she ever tolerated wearing glasses at all.

Dr. Maller

 

Scleral Contacts

A recent study conducted between 1999 and 2003 looked at the current usage of scleral contact lenses. The conclusion of this study has shown that scleral gas permeable contact lenses are clearly playing a significant role to currently manage conditions like Keratoconus, corneal transplants and ocular surface disease (dry eye). In my own personal experience the additional group of people that are currently benefiting from scleral lenses are the post-refractive surgical patients that have developed various complications. You can learn more about scleral contact lenses right here. This is clearly a case of what's old is new again.

 

Silicone Hydrogels - A New Breed

In the last year or so, the biggest news in soft contact lens technology has been the addition of the new category of silicone hydrogels. Silicone has been used in gas permeable lenses for the last couple of decades but only until recently it was impossible to add silicone to the hydrogel materials. The benefits of silicone to contact lenses lie in the ability of silicone to transmit oxygen. This is great news for soft lenses which up until now have trailed gas permeable lenses in this area by a significant amount. Additionally, some of the other benefits of silicone being added into the soft lens materials is that these lenses tend to dry less than traditional soft lenses and also build up less protein. Currently, there are four brands of soft lenses utilizing this silicone technology. Ciba's Night & Day, Ciba's O2 Optix, Bausch & Lomb's PureVision and Vistakon's Acuvue Advance. There will be more brands incorporating this technology in the near future. These types of products represent yet another way to address some of the contact lens failures of the past.

 

Children And Glasses

Just published in April 2005 was a longitudinal study conducted in England and Switzerland observing the phenomenon of children who wear glasses drawing increased negative attention from their peers. The study, after adjusting for many factors including social class and maternal educational level, showed that children who wear glasses were 35 to 37 percent more likely to be victims of physical or verbal bullying. You would think that in our modern enlightened age, as well as how fashionable glasses have become, this phenomenon would have passed into oblivion, but this sadly is not the case. Please share this information with any parents of children wearing glasses so they may be more aware of this potential problem.

 

Viagra And Vision Loss

Viagra has been implicated in causing significant vision problems. Athough the population examined for this study was very small, the effect on vision was noted within 36 hours of taking the drug and the final acuity ranged from 20/20 (normal vision) to light perception (only able to tell that a light was either on or off). All of these patients had other pre-existing conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. Although the study concluded that the risk of these types of devastating vision problems is likely small, patients with heart disease risk factors need further examination prior to being prescribed Viagra and the other similar drugs within this class.

 

Inflammation And Keratoconus

The data collected from a study of Keratoconus patients was recently released. This particular study examined the tears of Keratoconus patients. What was found was that there were significantly higher amounts of inflammatory molecules in the tears of Keratoconus patients compared to the tears of eyes in the normal population. Although historically Keratoconus has been considered a non-inflammatory condition resulting in corneal thinning, these findings may indicate that inflammation and chronic inflammatory events may be at the heart of this visually impairing disease. Results such as these can totally shift our thinking as to how to manage this lifelong condition.

 

Just For Fun - 8 Queens of Death

Sometimes while on the web, I will come across some item that is just fun. I have incorporated this into the website because everyone should have a little fun occasionally. I have decided to put at least one "fun" thing into each newsletter. I hope that you enjoy it. This particular item is a puzzle using a chessboard and 8 queens. The challenge sounds simple enough - place 8 queens on the board so that no queen is able to attack another on the next move. With 64 squares to choose from you might think it easy enough but it does take quite a bit of thought. You can find this puzzle at 8 Queens of Death.