Story

LASIK Surgery Can Cause Dry Eye Syndrome

While LASIK eye surgery in most cases results in vision improvement to 20/20 or better, an occasional subject becomes affected by a chronic condition in which the eye has a problem with lack of lubrication.
   
This condition is known as dry-eye syndrome. It can affect those who have not undergone LASIK surgery, a procedure that is not recommended for such people. Screening by eye surgeons is supposed to exclude all dry-eye sufferers from LASIK, but some get through and often experience a worsened condition after surgery.

Good Pupil Diameter Key for Successful LASIK Surgery

Laser eye surgery, hugely successful for the great majority of patients, can fail if a subject’s pupils are too large.
   
Thus, a good eye doctor who wants to provide patients with LASIK surgery (short for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) to correct faulty vision – including nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism – will carefully screen applicants for the procedure.

Preventing Rising Number of Post-LASIK Infections

The presence of dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria on patients about to undergo LASIK vision-correction surgery has increased dramatically during the past decade, a recent study showed. Infections occur rarely in LASIK patients, but statistics indicate that rates are slowly increasing.
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Expert Commentary: Dr. Elliot Goodman, M.D. May 5, 2009

In a fascinating study in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology,  scientists explored the creation of fat through a structure called fatty acid synthasase. While this is pure research with no immediate clinical application it does open a window into how fats are formed from carbohydrates. A deeper understanding of how this happens can ultimately lead to the development of inhibitors that would help block the conversion of carbohydrates into fat. This research always begs a somewhat difficult question. To what extent are people who overweight at fault. Or rather the question is how should a person feel about being overweight. This is an a critical question because how a person feels about their weight can go a long way to how they try to deal with it, either through diet, exercise, or surgery.

New Laser Eye Surgery Helps "Presbyopic" Patients

A new eye surgery technique has proven excellent at eliminating a common vision condition affecting most middle-aged and elderly people, a recent study showed.
   
The condition, known as presbyopia, starts to appear around age 40 and causes blurring in one’s near vision as the eye’s natural lens gradually loses its flexibility. A nearsighted person with presbyopia can’t see up close with his usual glasses or contact lenses, but is able to see nearby things clearly without them.

Expert Commentary: Dr. Elliot Goodman, MD April 27, 2009

So here is yet another story on the dangers of obesity. In this case several studies were reported in the journal of Neurology that points to the possibility that obesity puts people at greater risk for dementia, Alzheimer's Disease and the loss of brain function, in general. This Just adds another mark to the innumerable reasons -increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, to name a few - why it is critical to tackle the weight loss issue head-on.

Synchrotron X-Ray Research Being Used to Advance LASIK

British researchers using X-rays from a massive particle accelerator are investigating the human cornea and making discoveries that could help create the next generation of LASIK eye surgery – and even one day develop an artificial cornea.
   
Keith Meek, head of the Structural Biophysics Research Group at Cardiff University, and his colleagues have beamed special X-rays from the Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) in Daresbury and the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire onto both diseased and normal corneal samples to analyze the cornea’s structure of collagen protein fibers.

LASIK's Reality: Impermanent for Many

LASIK eye surgery effectively and safely corrects severe nearsightedness, the results lasting for at least 10 years – but a significant proportion of the procedures need to be redone during that time, a recent study revealed.

Moreover, only 40 percent of LASIK patients avoid the use of glasses altogether after surgery, and for a great many, there is some vision deterioration over the 10-year period, the researchers wrote in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

LASIK Treatment Can Induce Cornea Clouding

While laser eye surgery typically results in miraculously restored vision, there are some cases in which the very center of the cornea clouds up and actually worsens vision.
    
That’s the bad news, according to a recent study done by a pair of Los Angeles ophthalmologists. The good news is that the opacification of the cornea dissipates on its own in a few months, and the vision problem it produces can be safely reversed with another laser surgery.

Strengthening Eye Collagen Fixes 2 Vision Disorders

Two little-known but related eye conditions, one stemming from LASIK vision-correction surgery, plunge sufferers into a world of blurriness and sensitivity to glare and light. But a novel development involving treatment with vitamin B2 drops and ultraviolet light, already approved in Europe, helps sufferers' vision improve.

The conditions, known as keratoconus and iatrogenic keratoconus (or ectasia), affect about one in 2,000 people. They are characterized by a weakening of the thin, transparent film (the cornea) on the surface of the middle of the eye, which eventually results in a cone-like bulge, progressively destroying vision. Corneal transplants used to be the only effective remedy, and the two disorders account for 15 percent of them. (Read more)