Friday, October 17th, 2008
A combination of in-office therapy and at-home treatment is the best solution for a common childhood eye problem, optometrists at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) have found.
The team, led by Stacey Coulter, O.D., worked with researchers across the country to determine which treatment works best for a condition known as convergence insufficiency.
Convergence insufficiency, which is common among children, is a condition in which patients cannot accurately point their eyes together, so they see double or have eye strain. Other symptoms of convergence insufficiency include loss of place, loss of concentration, reading slowly, headaches, and blurry vision. It affects some patients’ ability to learn.
Share this article
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Posted in Children's Health, Eye / Vision Problems, medical-news | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008
Daily treatment with a medication called pirenzepine can slow the rate of progressive myopia, or nearsightedness, in children, reports a study in the August issue of the Journal of AAPOS (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus).
Led by Dr. R. Michael Stiatkowski of Dean McGee Eye Institute/University of Oklahoma Department of Ophthalmology, the researchers evaluated the effects of pirenzepine in children with myopia. Myopia—sometimes called nearsightedness—is a condition in which focus on near objects is good, but distant objects appear blurry. Caused by a problem with the length of the eyeball or the curvature of the cornea, myopia gets worse over time in many children.
In the study, children with myopia were randomly assigned to treatment with pirenzepine gel or an inactive placebo gel. After a year of treatment, the average increase in myopia was significantly less for children using pirenzepine. The new study presents the final results in 84 patients who continued treatment for a total of two years: 53 with pirenzepine and 31 with placebo.
Share this article
These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Posted in Children's Health, Eye / Vision Problems, medical-news | No Comments »
