Innovations for Visually Impaired

How often and how much do you rely on your computer?    Do you use it to check your email, get the weather, shop for a present, or find the latest baseball score?   Living without the convenience of a computer can be a big disadvantage.  For those with low vision, navigating and seeing what is on […]

While there is no medical treatment or cure to reverse advanced macular degeneration, there are several different companies that are developing retinal implants that help to restore some of the vision that is lost due to the degeneration or death of photoreceptor cells. The technology for these implants vary and each implant is designed to […]

In the last couple of years there has been several new medications that have become available for those who have the wet form of macular degeneration. Drugs such as Macugen, Lucentis, Avastin and now Eylea all belong to a class of drugs called anti-VEGF drugs or anti-angiogenesis drugs. The use of anti-VEGF therapy has become […]

Did you know that our eyes have internal “sunglasses?”  Known as the macular pigment (MP), this yellow pigmented spot is found in the center of the retina known as the macula.  Made up of two carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, the MP plays a critical role in protecting the macula from harmful blue light and in […]

Macular degeneration and stem cell research is in its infancy – as is most stem cell research. However, there has been some progress to report in humans .  And even though the progress is quite small, it is still ground breaking. A  bio-tech company called Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) has its principal laboratory and GMP […]

I often get many e-mails when some type of macular degeneration research is in the news. Patients and loved one are wanting to know when, where and how they can get this “latest treatment.” Unfortunately just because some research is in the news, doesn’t mean that the new treatment is even close to being available […]

Blind Community Fine-tunes Avast! Antivirus Software for Screen-reader Capability PRAGUE, Czech Republic, August 12, 2010 – AVAST Software, providers of the avast! antivirus program, has announced that the latest update to its antivirus application makes computer security fully accessible to the vision-impaired.  Using basic screen-reader technology, blind and low-vision computer users can now protect their […]

If you live long enough, you will probably develop one. Six out of 10 people over age 60, and almost everyone over age 80 has one. Has what? A cataract. Despite this prevalence, most people don’t know the facts about cataracts until they’re “eye-to-eye” with one. Now is the time to educate yourself about the […]

By Denise DeWitt A new product just approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is offering new hope to elderly patients with end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The implantable, miniature telescope is considered breakthrough technology to help offset the effects of AMD, which results in functional vision loss and is the leading cause of […]

As reported by Medical News Today, UC Irvine scientists have created an eight-layer, early stage retina from human embryonic stem cells, the first three-dimensional tissue structure to be made from stem cells. It also marks the first step toward the development of transplant-ready retinas to treat eye disorders such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration […]