By Staff
Friday, March 27, 2020 6:30 PM
Additional optical retailers and ECPs to temporarily close locations, MyEyeDr. to temporarily close all offices, many ECPs reduce office hours as COVID-19 expands, optical retailers temporarily close locations, and National Vision will temporarily close all of its stores, all topped this week’s
VMAIL news feed. Click on the headlines below to catch up on anything you might have missed.
By Staff
Friday, March 27, 2020 5:09 PM
NEW YORK—Almost four in five eyecare professionals (primarily independent optometrists and opticians) have taken steps, or are considering, a move to reduce office hours, and about four in 10 are considering temporarily closing their offices in response to the coronavirus outbreak. These are a few of the key findings in a second round of a
Jobson Research survey conducted this week. Among the respondents considering a reduction in hours, 43.6 percent said they are considering temporarily closing their offices and 21.2 percent said they are evaluating whether to open fewer days per week.
By Stephanie Sengwe
Friday, June 21, 2019 11:28 AM
Prevent Blindness is once again using its platform to promote eye safety, by declaring the month of June as Cataracts Awareness Month. As VMAIL previously
reported, the organization states that more than 25 million Americans are estimated to have cataract, a clouding of the eye's lens, which blocks or changes the passage of light into the eye. While cataracts are caused by changes related to aging, other factors can contribute to their formation.
By Staff
Monday, April 8, 2019 12:21 AM
TORONTO—Essilor has won a victory in a legal dispute over the sale of online prescription eyewear in Ontario. Last week, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled that Essilor’s online retail business, Clearly, can continue selling prescription eyewear online in the province.
The Court dismissed the Ontario College of Optometrists and the
College of Opticians joint application to seek an injunction preventing Clearly from selling eyeglasses and contact lenses eyewear there, without following Ontario legislation.
VM first
reported on the Colleges’ application for an injunction in December 2016.
By Staff
Monday, April 8, 2019 12:18 AM
NEW HAVEN, Conn.—The complete schedule for the 16th annual Global Health & Innovation Conference at Yale presented by
Unite For Sight has been announced. The conference will be held from April 13 to 14, 2019. This event brings together nearly 2,000 participants and more than 300 presentations about global health, responsible global engagement, social entrepreneurship and innovation. During the two-day conference, panel topics range from "The Art of Effective Organizations: Leading and Following with Humility and Integrity" to "Responsibility and Integrity in Global Health." They keynote addresses scheduled for the Global Health & Innovation Conference are as follows:
By Staff
Friday, April 5, 2019 12:21 AM
NEW YORK—A recent study published in the April 4 issue of
JAMA Ophthalmology has found that older patients with vision loss are often not identified as requiring special attention when hospitalized for common disorders. According to author Alan R. Morse, JD, PhD, president and CEO of
Lighthouse Guild; and co-authors William Seiple, PhD; Paul P. Lee, MD, JD; Joshua D. Stein, MD, MS; and Nidhi Talwar, MA, this misidentification can affect outcomes, resource use, and costs in the hospital.
By Staff
Thursday, April 4, 2019 12:21 AM
VANCOUVER ISLAND, British Columbia—
FYidoctors, Canada’s largest optometrist-owned eyecare company, has announce that Eye Design Optometry, located here on Vancouver Island, has joined the FYidoctors organization.
Eye Design Optometry is the longest established optometry practice in the region with a record of serving the entire Cowichan Valley and surrounding areas for more than 35 years, according to the announcement this week. The practice’s dedication to “improving the quality of patients’ lives through the health of their eyes is evident through the adoption of cutting-edge instrumentation and on-going education.
By Staff
Thursday, April 4, 2019 12:15 AM
IRVINE, Calif.—
Ocutrx Vision Technologies, an advanced research and development manufacturer of augmented reality (AR) glasses, announced it has received a second U.S. patent, which will protect the company’s unique eye tracking technology for patients with macular degeneration and other low vision conditions. Ocutrx said the issuance of the patent “cements the company’s place as a pioneer in both contact lens displays for AR and eye tracking technology for AR/XR applications.”
By Staff
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 12:15 AM
BETHESDA, Md.—
RightEye announced that it has built an extensive database that is being used by major research and health institutions to examine the eye-brain connection and detect the early onset of neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease. The database was built using more than one billion data points from over 100,000 patient tests conducted with RightEye’s eye-tracking system. The anonymized data, which RightEye expects to exceed two billion data points by year end, is providing researchers with a new and deeper understanding of early indicators for neurological issues, which are anticipated to help in the development of new treatment options and interventions, the company said.
By Staff
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 9:00 AM
BETHESDA, Md.—
RightEye announced that it has built an extensive database that is being used by major research and health institutions to examine the eye-brain connection and detect the early onset of neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease. The database was built using more than one billion data points from over 100,000 patient tests conducted with RightEye’s eye-tracking system. The anonymized data, which RightEye expects to exceed two billion data points by year end, is providing researchers with a new and deeper understanding of early indicators for neurological issues, which are anticipated to help in the development of new treatment options and interventions, the company said.
By Staff
Tuesday, April 2, 2019 12:24 AM
LONDON—
Clearly, a global charity tackling the issue of poor vision has highlighted the dramatic rise of myopia among children around the world, with figures set to increase from an already worrying 300 million children today to 500 million by 2050. The revised data was featured at the start of
Sightgeist a one-day event held here set up by Clearly founder James Chen on March 28, uniting many stakeholders and organizations working to address unmet vision care access around the world.
By Staff
Monday, April 1, 2019 12:30 AM
CHICAGO—
Prevent Blindness has declared April as Women’s Eye Health And Safety Awareness Month to highlight the different needs in addressing women’s eye health. According to Prevent Blindness, women have higher rates of eye diseases such as cataract, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration than men. In addition, women tend to have a higher rate prevalence of Dry Eye, and may often deal with vision changes related to both pregnancy and menopause. Women deal with greater instances of eye disorders, according to the
National Eye Institute, in part, due to the fact that they tend to live longer than men, are more likely to undergo cancer treatments which affect vision, and experience age-related hormonal changes that can affect the eyes.
By Staff
Monday, April 1, 2019 12:27 AM
QUEBEC CITY, Quebec—In an effort to boost support for education and health, Quebec has approved budget increases for these areas in its 2019-2020 budget, according to an announcement by the minister of finance’s office late last month. The 2019-2020 budget makes a major reinvestment in the education and health sectors, totaling $7.3 billion within five years, “to improve student services as well as health care, particularly for seniors, as we promised we would do,” the announcement noted.
By Staff
Monday, April 1, 2019 12:24 AM
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson last week signed into law a bill that significantly expands the scope of practice for optometrists in that state. The legislation,
HB 1251, allows optometrists to now perform SLT and YAG laser procedures, injections (excluding IV and intraocular), removal of lid lesions and chalazion incision and curettage. The new law will go into effect in August. The Arkansas Optometric Association celebrated the win with a Facebook post that said “It is a testament to the important primary eye health care doctors of optometry deliver to our patients.