Helping practitioners keep their patients’ eyes healthy is what we’re all about here at Optos, so, although Healthy Vision Month is only officially observed in May, every month is healthy vision month for us! However, we’d like to encourage all practitioners to get involved with Healthy Vision Month this year, especially because this year marks the 10th anniversary of this opportunity to encourage everyone to take action to protect sight, prevent vision loss, and maintain vision for years to come.

As the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shares, lots of people are living with undetected vision issues, diseases of the eye, and other problems that can be detected through an eye exam. Healthy Vision Month was created to help promote viewing vision as a health priority. A few ways the Healthy Vision Month website suggests you can accomplish this includes:

Adding eye-health facts and statistics to your practice’s website, newsletter, or social networking sites, and provide a link to the Healthy Vision Month website Placing eye-health posters throughout your practice Setting aside your own Healthy Vision Day or Week and issue a statement about it, encouraging everyone to schedule an eye exam each year and to encourage habits …

The Ophthalmic Photographers’ Society (OPS) holds an image competition annually at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). The competition is open to all members and always features a number of interesting images that represent the best in retinal imaging across a number of different categories.

The judge’s panel for the competition is made up of OPS members and ophthalmologists who select the images that best represent the categories of the competition, which range from conditions like retinal angiography to images demonstrating surgical techniques, and even creative submissions under “Eyes as Art.” The winning images are then put on display at the OPS Scientific Exhibit on the AAO Exhibit Floor during the show.

However, prior to the Exhibit’s opening, a third set of judges reviews the images one last time and selects what OPS describes as “the most outstanding image from the show.” That image is honored with the Csaba L. Martonyi Award, which is named for Csaba L. Martonyi, CRA, FOPS, a longtime member of the OPS who encouraged professional imagers to put their “effort and skill into producing images that serve a medical purpose and demonstrate technical and artistic perfection.”

In the 2012 competition, Optos was …

A study conducted at the New England College of Optometry yielded some exciting results for practitioners using Optos’ retinal imaging devices as a part of comprehensive eye exams.

The study was designed to compare retinal imaging techniques and specifically evaluated how an optomap-assisted fundus exam is able to detect retinal lesions in comparison with traditional ophthalmoscopy. Researchers studied 339 eyes to see whether or not Optos’ ultra-widefield retinal imaging technology could allow practitioners to perform a more comprehensive exam, as the accuracy of traditional dilated retinal exams currently performed vary from 32% to 82%.

With the results recently published in Eye and Brain, the study is believed to be the first that demonstrates the ability of digital technology imaging to enhance a traditional dilated fundus exam. The study revealed that the optomap-assisted technique revealed about 30% more retinal lesions than traditional ophthalmoscopy. Researchers also concluded that optomap image assisted fundus exams enhanced the detection of retinal lesions when compared with traditional fundus exams alone.

In a press release, Roy Davis, CEO of Optos, shared that the study serves as a great example of the benefits of ultra-widefield imaging:

“We believe optomap image-assisted ophthalmoscopy represents an …

We’ve all most likely had a dentist ask us at one time or another if we’ve been flossing enough. While the importance of flossing can be easily overlooked or underestimated, it’s an essential part of the equation for good dental health.

Similarly, a comprehensive eye exam is an important part of the equation for maintaining eye health. But there are several steps patients must take on their own – similar to flossing – in order to keep their eyes in optimal health after they’ve left the doctor’s office. Below are a few simple tips you can encourage your patients to practice on their own to maintain healthy eyes and vision.

Eat for Better Vision – Remind patients of the fruits and vegetables that are rich in the vitamins and minerals that they can add to their diet to support eye health. Lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamin E, and omega-3 fatty acids are helpful for patients with cataracts, AMD, and dry eye syndrome, respectively.

Watch Your Weight – Patients that maintain a healthy weight are less likely to develop conditions like type-2 diabetes, which is a leading cause of blindness in adults as it increases the risk of glaucoma and cataracts. So …

While most people differentiate the eastern European region by political, socioeconomic, and geographical aspects, optometrists differentiate the highly industrialized countries of Europe by the leading causes of vision loss in children and adults.

According to the British Journal of Ophthalmology, the leading causes of childhood vision loss in the eastern European region are “lesions of the central nervous system, congenital anomalies and retinal disorders.” The leading causes among adults in these countries, however, are age-related macular degeneration, cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and uncorrected or uncorrectable refractive errors and low vision in general. Working age individuals are commonly diagnosed with similar conditions, as well as optic atrophy. In middle income countries, the leading causes of vision loss are reported to be congenital cataract, advanced cataract, glaucoma, retinopathy of prematurity and diabetic retinopathy.

The article further notes that as many of these causes of partial and/or total vision loss are preventable, European countries will have to increase their public health efforts to be able to effectively combat vision loss. The five eye health issues that healthcare professionals need to focus on were identified as cataract, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, retinopathy of prematurity and low vision and refraction. However, most of these …

Do any of your patients seem flustered when entering the exam room? If so, it might be because they are experiencing one or more of the common causes of dissatisfaction as identified by a Consumer Reports survey and a report featured on ABC News.

The Consumer Reports survey was cited to reveal the following as the things patients dislike most about visiting the doctor:

24% of patients surveyed said the amount of time spent in the waiting was most annoying, with almost one in four patients revealing that they waited no less than 30 minutes; ABC News shared that patients often feel the doctors think their time is more valuable than the patients’. 19% said they couldn’t schedule an appointment within a week. 9% felt that their doctors didn’t spend enough time with them. In relation to this, ABC News reported that many patients feel their doctors aren’t really listening to them in the time they do spend with their patients. 7% responded that test results were not provided in a timely manner. And 6% of the respondents felt phone calls were not responded to promptly.

While it may not be easy to hear some of this not-so-positive feedback, it …

First impressions are extremely important when it comes to a patient’s experience at a doctor’s office, and that experience begins in the waiting room. Some patients may feel a bit anxious about their appointment, and the time they spend in the waiting room can have an effect on whether or not their nerves are eased. Still others see the wait as an annoyance.

Taking some time to consider how your waiting room currently affects the patient experience can reveal ways to improve the space, and in turn make the patient’s visit more positive. A Spanish design consultancy, Fuelfor, conducted a case study called “Rethink the waiting room,” which pointed out six ways a waiting room can be improved for a better patient experience. Here are some of the ideas we found most impactful.

Greet patients with signs that offer a warm welcome. Fuelfor recommends injecting your signage with personality by introducing the doctors in the office that day with their name and photo, and other information like suggestions of activities that cater to a healthy lifestyle.

Create a comfortable environment by providing patients with thoughtfully-chosen seating. Also, consider decorating with planters and adding acoustic separators for patient privacy. …

We believe that everyone should have access to doctors and eye exams in order to maintain healthy vision and prevent blindness. Sadly, there are many locations around the world where vision disorders and blindness are a huge problem among the population and the ability to receive proper treatment is not always an option.

As part of our commitment to help create and maintain strong, healthy communities, Optos is proud to support organizations that provide medical assistance to some of the most under-served populations around the world. One such organization is the Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP).

The HCP was founded in 1995 by Drs. Sanduk Ruit and Geoff Tabin, a pair of ophthalmologists that shared an ambition to eliminate as much unnecessary blindness as they could during their lifetimes. The organization is rooted in the Tilganga Eye Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal – the first outpatient cataract surgery facility of its kind in the Himalayan region. The Himalayan region, as Dr. Tabin says, is an area where blindness has long been viewed as a death sentence: “People long thought that as you grow old, your hair turns white, your eyes turn white and you die.”

Drs. Tabin and Ruit …

We’re all familiar with the saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” and how a balanced diet is essential for one’s health. But can certain foods actually help save the vision of your patients?

The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) conducted over a decade ago revealed that there are nutritional supplements that can minimize the risk of AMD. The AREDS2 preliminary findings also reveal that lifestyle adjustments and nutritional supplements can help reduce one’s risk for AMD.

As Robert Able Jr., MD, shared with Ophthalmology Management, most treatments for age-related eye diseases can be quite expensive, but these procedures can be prevented if ocular nutrition is taken seriously and patients start adding the right foods and supplements to their diet.

So which foods and supplements might be able to help save the vision of your patients dealing with age-related eye problems? Below are a few recommendations.

Fish, spinach, kale, turnip greens, corn, squash, and pumpkins that are rich in lutein and zeaxanthin are helpful for patients who have cataracts, category 3 or 4 AMD, or a family history of AMD. Lutein and zeaxanthin help decrease the risk of damage to the inner eye caused …

Do you find reducing patient anxiety to be your biggest challenge some days? According to Optometry Today, a study of 366 patients once revealed that practitioners “cannot assume that anxiety is reserved for one ‘type’ of patient,” but rather those patients that fall into a certain classification, such as high anxiety personality types, patients expecting to receive some bad news, and those who currently don’t wear glasses or contact lenses.

Anxiety can make an eye exam uncomfortable and very stressful for your patients. Optometry Today further notes that there is a distinct tie between patient anxiety and lower levels of satisfaction after their exam, which is why you should not only take the time to learn what makes patients feel anxious, but also learn how you can effectively use strategies to decrease anxiety. Below are a few suggestions outlined by Optometry Today:

Identify the Source of Anxiety – Talk with patients before the exam to see if they feel nervous about any aspect of it and then modify routines as needed to help reduce anxiety.

Be a Good Communicator – Practitioners should communicate in a way that’s easy for the patients to understand, such as putting their condition …