NZ Optics
An experienced medical and healthcare writer-editor specialising in creating clinically informed content
84 articles
Reflecting similar strategies in the UK and Ireland, a nurse-led corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) service is being established in Northland to ease the burden on local ophthalmologists. Drew Jones reviews how this is being received.
At the 2021 glaucoma-focused Ocular Therapeutics Evening (OTE), Auckland-based ophthalmologists Drs Hussain Patel and Divya Perumal highlighted New Zealand’s dearth of preservative-free eye drop options for their glaucoma patients.
Gathering eye injury data since 2019, The International Globe and Adnexal Trauma Epidemiology Study (IGATES) is increasingly identifying national and demographic trends, plus some unexpected lockdown effects. To find out more, Drew Jones spoke to principal investigators Dr Rupesh Agrawal, from Tan T
During the 2017 election campaign, NZ First leader, and soon-to-be deputy prime minister, Winston Peters promised to provide free eye health tests for the over 65s. Nearly $13 million, rising to $61.7 million a year from 2021/22, was earmarked as part of the health allocation in the 2020 budget, but
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care’s (ACSQHC) new Cataract Clinical Care Standard has been rebuffed by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO).
Two ambitious global eye health targets for 2030 were endorsed by 194 member states at the 74th World Health Assembly (WHA), in Geneva, Switzerland, but do not seem to have garnered much attention in New Zealand.
Eyes were an obvious omission in this year’s health budget, which failed to mention the previous’ government’s promise to include one free eye-health check for SuperGold holders, or its dumbed-down version for age-related macular degeneration*, which appears to have now been scrapped.
Most of the polycarbonate plano lenses that are discarded from optometrists’ frame displays end up in landfill. In the US, that’s around 200 lenses per store, per week. When he became aware of all those lenses being discarded, Yair Neuman, a London-based conceptual, product and eyewear designer made
The government’s recent announcement of a major restructure that will see the 20 district health boards replaced by one new body, Health New Zealand, has been cautiously welcomed by the country’s eyecare professionals (ECPs).
A review of emerging contact lens (CL) technologies by the University of Waterloo, Canada, has highlighted several innovative concepts spanning treatment, diagnostics, monitoring and drug delivery systems.
Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is thought to be experienced by around 58% of the population. It’s a physical response to visual and auditory stimuli, often described by those who experience it as ‘tingles’, usually in the back of the scalp and spine. For those who are unfamiliar with th
By 2050, the number of people over 65 will have tripled worldwide and around one in three living at home will have at least one fall per year, according to the UK’s National Health Service. At the Vision Institute in Paris, Emmanuel Gutmann has developed a unique platform, called StreetLab, to repro
