Bath was the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent

NHS commissioners are ignoring clinical guidelines by rationing access to cataract surgery, an investigation by The BMJ finds New evidence gathered by The BMJ shows that patients with cataracts are being screened and that those who don’t meet visual acuity thresholds are being denied surgery. This is despite NICE’s guideline, which says that cataract removal is cost effective and should not be restricted to the more severe cases.12 In 2018-19 more than a fifth (22%) of patients in England who needed cataract surgery were screened, three times the proportion of 7% in 2016-17 (fig 1). Fig 1 Screening referrals Mike Burdon, president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, who also chaired NICE’s guideline committee, said that it was his mission before he stepped down as president in a year’s time to convince clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to stop rationing cataract surgery and not to label it a procedure of “limited clinical value.” He said that this approach was “unjustified whatever way you look at it.” He added that it was a false economy for CCGs to apply criteria for cataract surgery as a way to control costs. Cataract surgery is the most common operation in the NHS, with more than 400 000 procedures performed every year in the UK. Experts had hoped that NICE’s 2017 guideline would make it harder for NHS commissioners in England to ration treatment for financial reasons. But The BMJ ’s analysis shows that rationing has actually risen in parts of the country since then, with patients increasingly having to meet strict criteria before they can be referred for surgery. Among the 185 CCGs that provided data (95% response rate), the investigation found that almost 2900 prior approval requests or individual funding requests for cataract surgery were rejected last year, more …

Injections or surgeries can give older eyes a lift

Dr. Marc Levy of the Sarasota Retina Institute (SRI) has been a leading player in a new internationally developed technology that restores vision to patients who are legally blind due to advanced dry macular degeneration, a previously incurable condition.

Dr. Loizos is a board-certified ophthalmologist. He treats all eye conditions such as cataracts, macular degeneration, and glaucoma – among others. He specializes in small-incision and laser-assisted cataract surgery, micro-invasive glaucoma surgery, and laser treatments. He also performs general and pediatric eye exams.

The drug Eyela can be used to treat the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, reducing the chances of serious vision loss.

France’s health authority warns that LED light can damage our eyes, whether it’s from acute or chronic exposure, and change our circadian rhythm.

Thomas Jefferson University, in partnership with Wills Eye Hospital along with the generosity of several prescient philanthropists, has launched the world's first center focused on the visual signatures of neurological diseases.

It may be possible sometime in the future to screen patients for Alzheimer's disease using a non-invasive eye exam. A new study finds that technology similar to what many eye doctors already use may be able to identify signs of the condition in patients.

Dr. L. Neal Freeman is an Ophthalmologist at Florida Eye Associates serving locations in Melbourne and Viera.