Australia’s Brien Holden Vision Institute has announced a change in leadership and a shift in focus to address future needs for both the ophthalmic industry and the public health sector.The Board of
The Australian government’s decision to develop a national diabetes eye screening programme is a major step in the fight against diabetes-related vision loss and blindness, according to diabetes and eye health groups. Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt announced an initial $1 million for year one
The Optical Distributors & Manufacturers Association of Australia (ODMA) and the Victorian arm of Optometry Australia, Optometry Victoria, have joined forces to launch Omega19, a biennial event being billed as the largest education, eye care and eyewear event ever seen in Australasia. Omega19 will
Dr Heather Mack will become the first female president of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) at the RANZCO Congress in Adelaide, in November. A senior, Melbourne-based consultant with a focus on visual electrophysiology and medical retinal disorders, Dr Mack h
Scientists have discovered 19 new genetic markers that could predict the risk of eye disease, bringing the total number of known variants to 45. The genome-wide study of 25,000 people almost doubles the number of known genetic variants that affect how thick the cornea is, according to findings publi
Columbia Engineering researcher, Professor Sinisa Vukelic has developed a new non-invasive approach to permanently correct vision without causing tissue damage that shows great promise in preclinical models. In his research, using a femtosecond oscillator - an ultrafast laser that delivers pulses
Reading in the morning may accelerate myopia, according to new research from Flinders University. “Our results show that changes in the length of the eye in response to visual blur, which causes myopia, are dependent on the time of the day,” says optometrist Dr Ranjay Chakraborty, a senior lecturer
Stanford and Seoul National University researchers have developed an artificial nerve system which gives prosthetic devices and robots reflexes and a sense of touch. The joint US-Korean work, reported in Science, brings creating artificial skin for prosthetic limbs and restoring sensation to amputee
Changes made to the New Zealand optometrists' scope of practice in 2005 and 2014 increased the range of therapeutic pharmaceutical agents (TPAs) that can be prescribed by optometrists. The public register of the Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians Board in May 2018 shows that of the 746 practicing
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) launched its age-related macular degeneration (AMD) management guidelines, tailored to New Zealand, at its annual conference in Auckland. The guidelines provide an evidence-based resource for optometrists, GPs and other healt
Researchers at the Lions Eye Institute (LEI) have discovered that contrary to expectations, a common virus triggers long-lasting inflammation in the eyes of hosts with a healthy immune system. Healthy eyes have been considered largely inaccessible to viruses, as well as “immune privileged”, meaning
The Brien Holden Vision Institute has joined forces with a leading hybrid speciality contact lens company to provide a tailored hybrid contact lens, so eye care professionals can meet the needs of individual myopes and presbyopes, and deliver precise correction and a high degree of comfort. Brien H
