Oftentimes, patients aren’t as familiar with their medical conditions until after a famous name admits they suffer from the very same disease or condition. Take Tom Hanks for example. The star of the new film “Captain Phillips” recently revealed on the “Late Show with David Letterman” that he has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes after battling high blood sugar for many years. After the diagnosis, he started taking steps to manage the disease, such as maintaining a healthier weight and diet. His admission about the state of his own health will hopefully encourage other people to be more vigilant about preventing or managing their diabetes.

Hanks’ diagnosis serves as a reminder to eye care professionals that they play an important role in the fight against diabetes, especially since November is World Diabetes Month. Also, World Diabetes Day is just around the corner. Observed on November 14, 2013, World Diabetes Day was established to recognize the profound effect diabetes has on the health of 347 million people around the world. According to the American Diabetes Association, people with diabetes are likely to be diagnosed with common eye problems like blindness due to diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and cataracts. Optos is banding together …

A prospective comparative study published recently in Ophthalmology found substantial agreement (80%) between Optos UWF and ETDRS 7-standard field images of eyes with DR. However, by identifying additional lesions in the retinal periphery, UWF imaging led to a more severe DR assessment in 10% of eyes, compared to assessments based on conventional photography. The authors call for further prospective study to evaluate the implications of these lesions for DR progression within different levels of severity.

Silva PS, Cavallerano JD, Sun JK, Soliman AZ, Aiello LM, Aiello LP. Peripheral lesions identified by mydriatic ultrawide field imaging: Distribution and potential impact on diabetic retinopathy severity. Ophthalmology. 2013: 1-9. [Epub ahead of print]

Most advances in medical technology are very beneficial for improving a doctor’s abilities to both diagnose and treat a particular disease or condition. For ophthalmologists, advanced imaging devices are a must. But, as Ravi D. Patel, MD, an associate vitreoretinal surgeon and director of clinical research at Retinal Vitreal Consultants Ltd., Chicago, recently shared with Ophthalmology Management, there are few imaging devices that “change the way we think about a disease or fundamentally alter clinical management.”

Dr. Patel focuses on ultra-widefield imaging (UWF), noting that this form of imaging has helped practitioners study areas they previously couldn’t with conventional imaging devices, especially in the vitreoretinal subspecialty. He looked at several different UWF imaging devices, but lists the ultra-wide views of up to 200° that Optos’ 200Tx scanning laser ophthalmoscope provides as incomparable to most. The enhanced view of the periphery, Dr. Patel shares, has helped lead researchers to some new clinical findings over the past few years, as well as new insights to the role of peripheral pathology in retinal vascular and degenerative diseases, among others. Dr. Patel also noted UWF imaging has helped uncover potential new disease markers.

Other benefits of newer UWF imaging devices Dr. Patel …

October 10^th marked World Sight Day, a day where the international health community banded together to raise awareness around blindness as a public health issue. The European Forum Against Blindness (EFAB) used World Sight Day to further emphasize the importance of comprehensive eyecare for all in order to reduce costs associated with blindness and other vision issues. They released their findings in a six-country study analyzing the economic impact of blindness.

The study revealed that eye diseases and blindness currently cost the European society about 20 billion Euros. Optometry Today further reported that the estimated cost of blindness alone to the six countries in the EFAB study is 7 billion Euros annually, while day-to-day care for those suffering from blindness account for the rest of the associated costs. The study echoes what many eye care professionals in Europe and the US have been saying for a few years now: the best way to offset the cost of 20 billion Euros is to create a comprehensive intervention plan.

The EFAB is among many groups working diligently towards making blindness a public health priority, due to how costly the issue is to the European society. In order to decrease the cost, …

As we shared several weeks ago, the appearance of your office will send a message to your patients. In a recent segment of Optometric Minute, Eric White, OD, of Complete Family Eyecare Center in San Diego, Calif., shares that using various aspects of your office and practice to communicate a message to patients about the technology used in your practice is a must.

For his own practice, Dr. White shares that he wants his office to communicate to patients “the overall presence of technology” and professionalism in a manner that lets them know they will be taken care of, along with their visual and eye health needs. Dr. White accomplishes this by doing the following:

Showing technology upfront, so that patients can see that the highest quality of care is available for their needs. In Dr. White’s case, he shows patients the technology of what he’s prescribing for their eyewear. Showing what can happen to a patient’s eyes by displaying artwork and other articles throughout the practice’s waiting areas and hallways. Explaining and showing patients the medical process by discussing their individual pathologies and medical conditions, so they understand the diagnosis. Including a retinal exam as a part …

As we’ve shared before, advanced technology and instrumentation are huge assets to practitioners because they not only help ensure a patient’s eyes are healthy, but also because such advanced equipment can detect potentially serious vision and medical conditions in their earliest stages. In doing so, a patient’s risk of going blind or becoming extremely ill is averted because treatment options can be presented much earlier on.

Review of Optometric Business recently shared three case studies in which Ed Liu, OD, of Foothills Optometric Group in Pleasanton, California, shared how an OCT scan and retinal imaging through an optomap® helped detect signs of macular degeneration, retinal detachment and leukemia.

In the first case, Dr. Liu was unable to achieve 20/20 vision with the patient. This led him to complete an OCT scan, which allowed him to look at the patient’s optic nerve and retina. With this scan, Dr. Liu was able to detect drusen and other early signs of macular degeneration on a microscopic level that other devices would not be able to detect. Cases like this have paved the way for his five-doctor practice to use the OCT on a daily basis, allowing them to spot pathologies very …

Many eyecare practitioners have patients that have been with them for years or have conditions that may require more frequent exams, which can make the patient’s records seem to stretch on for miles. And unfortunately, traditional forms of record keeping can make it extremely easy to overlook an important part of the patient’s health that needs to be discussed. As Palmer N. Lee, OD of EYEcenter Optometric recently shared with Review of Optometric Business, it helps to have “a record at your fingertips prompting you to talk about these things with each patient. That’s what electronic records do in the exam room…”

Dr. Lee elaborates on that point, sharing that by keeping electronic health records, he can quickly identify previous issues, such as past diagnoses and patient complaints, which can be used to start deep conversations that “facilitate enhanced interaction” between a doctor and patient. To prepare for these conversations, Dr. Lee’s staff enters all medical information into each patient’s records prior to the exam, as well as information about the reason for the visit, acuities, retinal images and other facts. This way, Dr. Lee can review the information and be fully prepared for the patient’s visit. He advises …

According to Prevent Blindness America and the AmericanAcademy of Ophthalmology, over 2.5 million eye injuries occur in the U.S. each year. Of those injuries, about 50,000 people are left with some form of permanent vision loss. For eyecare practitioners, those are very sobering numbers considering that up to 90 percent of these injuries could be prevented with the right protective gear.

Since October is Eye Injury Prevention Month, we want to take this time to encourage practitioners to take some time to remind patients of the importance of wearing proper protective eyewear. From household tasks to sports and work, there are a number of eye injury hazards your patients may not be aware of, and it is up to you to help them understand what they can do to avoid unnecessary eye injuries and vision loss.

Nearly half of all eye injuries occur at home, according to Get Eye Smart, and approximately 125,000 of these injuries involve common household cleaners. Patients should be reminded to wear safety glasses, goggles or face shields that meet the appropriate safety standards to protect their eyes not only from chemical-related injuries, but also injuries that could result from using lawn maintenance equipment, power …

Ask any doctor who has been practicing for many years, and they’ll probably agree that educating patients on a particular diagnosis is one of the best things you can do to help them understand what’s going on with their body and to improve adherence to treatment plans or ongoing visits. At Optos, we not only believe in providing practitioners with the resources to educate their patients, but also to show a patient exactly what they see in an retina exam. One of those tools is our innovative and interactive 3D Wrap™ tool.

3D Wrap™ allows practitioners to give patients a virtual tour of their eye, showing them where the retina is located and providing the opportunity to explain other parts of the eye. This is done by creating an animated 3D Wrap™ sequence of an optomap image, displayed as a 3-dimensional graphic model of their eye. Other features 3D Wrap™ is able to simulate include the following:

– The patient’s iris color from capture settings – Refractive errors range from -10D to +5D, including the ability to demonstrate myopia and hyperopia through simulation of the shape of the model eye – Demonstrating how myopia and hyperopia affect the patient’s vision by …

We were pleased to see the ultra-widefield retinal images captured through optomap technology featured on the JAMA Ophthalmology Facebook page recently. According to a case study, the images were captured in the exam of a 25-year-old man who had experienced bilateral blurred vision for a few weeks.

An optomap exam helped reveal the cause of his blurred vision – acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopahty (APMPPE) in both eyes. Ultra-widefield (UWF™) imaging, as well as other exams, presented results characteristic of funduscopic findings. Images captured at both the initial and follow-up exams revealed three types of lesions on the patient’s eyes:

White on color photos, hypofluorescent early and isofluorescent late on fluorescein angiography (FA), as well as isoautofluorescent on fundus autofluorescence (FAF) – These lesions were primarily located anterior to the baseline, and diminished later on. White lesions on color photos, hypofluorescent early and staining late on FA, as well as hypoautofluorescent on FAF – These lesions eventually became atrophic. Pigmented lesions on color photos, hypofluorescent early and late on FA, as well as hyperautofluorescent on FAF – Initially, these lesions were located at the margins of the placoid lesions in the left eye, while occurring more centrally in …