Each year, November 14th is recognized as World Diabetes Day. IDF and the World Health Organization created World Diabetes Day in 2011 in response to escalating health issues surrounding diabetes and diabetic eye diseases.

The spookiest day of the year is just around the corner, where all the ghosts and ghouls come out to play.  Halloween is a holiday built for all ages but, particularly children, but tends to be particularly busy for eye doctors due to scary and spooky injuries that can happen!  While enjoying a holiday encompassed with costumes, trick-or-treating and parties, it is important to also remember eye safety.  Every year there are hundreds of costume-related and other completely avoidable eye injuries are treated in emergency rooms throughout the United States.

World Sight Day (WSD) is an annual day of awareness held on the second Thursday of October each year.  WSD aims to focus global attention on blindness and vision impairment. The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) members work together to raise public awareness of blindness and vision impairment, influence governments to participate and designate funds for national blindness prevention funds, and to educate target audiences about blindness prevention. World Sight Day 2020 takes place on October 8th. This year’s theme and call to action is: “Hope in Sight”. 

It’s natural for patients, and even some professionals in the sector, to feel a bit apprehensive about returning to practices and adapting to new changes.

This is why we’ve been working hard to help our customers get back to business in the safest way possible, while providing guidance and support to help them reassure their patients and staff.  It’s critical we come together to support practices on the frontline, as they get back on their feet and also prepare for any potential future disruption.

Just like any other part of the body, your eyes age as you get older. In honor of Healthy Aging Month, we want to bring to light some helpful tips to keep your eyes healthy as you age.  Despite age related changes to vision, ocular health is often overlooked.  Aging is a process that brings many changes. Vision loss and blindness, however, do not have to be one of them. There are several simple steps you can take to keep your eyes healthy for the rest of your life.

Athletes of all levels need to protect themselves from injury. Injuries are unfortunately a part of playing sports – anyone from weekend warriors to professionals, has probably nursed some sort of injury. In some cases, these injuries happen directly to the eye, from orbital blowout fracture, ruptured globe, or a detached retina and some can be detected, along with other types of pathology, by looking at the health of the eye. Because the retina is the only place in the body where vasculature can be viewed non-invasively, eyecare professionals are looking to the retina to assist them in identifying, diagnosing, and treating ocular issues in athletes. Many of these eyecare professionals choose the ONLY ultra-widefield retinal image, optomap, to assist them like no other retinal imaging technology can.

The mandatory stay at home orders that COVID required left many eyecare professionals wondering how they would treat their patients. Louise Sclafani, OD decided that telemedicine, including virtual visits, would be the best route for her patients. Little did she know the optomap technology that she relies on in her practice would become essential to her as both a doctor and a mother.

The "new normal" will no doubt make this year’s back to school routine seem very different. Some parents and students prepare to go back to their school buildings, while others prepare to embrace a new hybrid learning program or virtual classrooms. For some states, the school year is beginning even earlier and while we are coping with many changes, some habits can remain the same, such as back to school eye exams. August is conveniently designated as Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month and can help remind us the importance of children’s eye health and comprehensive eye exams.

July is Fireworks Eye Safety Month, and because fireworks sometimes become a part of many year-round celebrations, not only Independence Day, it is an excellent opportunity to clarify our understanding of the do’s and don’ts of pyrotechnic use. Eye injuries from fireworks can be especially severe because of the combination of force, heat and chemicals. Following a few simple safety tips can help make for a safe, fun celebration.

The most recent Consumer Product Safety Commission report found that 19% of fireworks injuries were eye injuries. In the most severe cases, fireworks can rupture the globe of the eye, cause chemical and thermal burns, corneal abrasions and retinal detachment — all of which can cause permanent eye damage and vision loss. Children and young adults are frequent victims of fireworks accidents and mishaps. Children age 15 and under accounted for 36% of the total injuries, according to the commission’s report. And half of the injuries requiring an emergency room visit were to people age 20 or younger. Even sparklers can be dangerous, sparklers were responsible for 1,200 of the injuries in the latest report, and a sparkler mishap caused one of the fireworks deaths reported in 2017. The people injured by …

This spring, the pandemic abruptly brought global apprehension and uncertainty. Medical practitioners desperately endeavored to navigate increased safety protocols while continuing to provide optimal care for their patients. Consequently, forecasters began to observe that reliance on medical technology solutions that can support safer exam scenarios would dramatically increase. During this challenging transition, Mitch Reinholt, OD discovered that one of his favorite diagnostic tools became more valuable than ever.

In April, Dr. Reinholt found himself with a bare-bones staff, providing some telemedical visits, but ultimately bringing patients in and doing most of the exams on his own. He found that his California helped to expedite exams and reduce patient exposure as well as time in the office. California, like all optomap UWF retinal imaging devices, capture over 200 degrees of the retina in 1/2 second. It provides a dynamic image that can be enlarged and manipulated to see into the retinal layers and with autofluorescence to assess function, as well. Reinholt explained that he could capture the image quickly, then withdraw to review it and evaluate if further diagnostics were required.

Reinholt acquired his California device in 2019 primarily for clinical value and the ability to get unmatched retinal information, but also …