News from the Editors

Image: face of a bearded man with the monitoring device on both sides of the face; Copyright: NNUH

Wearables: dizziness monitoring device

02.08.2019

A ground-breaking device to help patients with dizziness problems has moved a step forward following a successful research study. Researchers from UEA and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) have published the results of the biggest collection of continuous eye movement data after testing the effectiveness of a wearable diagnostic headset.

Image: man trains medical assistants in India in smartphone-based funduscopy; Copyright: University Hospital Bonn

mHealth: smartphones as ophthalmoscopes save sight

10.07.2019

About one in ten people in southern India is diabetic. Around one in three suffers from a so-called diabetic retinopathy (DR), a disease of the retina caused by diabetes. Untreated, DR is often the cause of visual impairment and blindness. However, many of those affected have symptoms only in the late stages of the disease.

Image: physician examinates a patient with the portable device by holding the device and a smartphone in front of the patient's eye; Copyright: Phelcom Technologies

mHealth: portable device can be used to diagnose eye disease remotely

26.06.2019

A portable device connected to a smartphone makes precise images of the retina to detect back-of-the-eye (fundus) disease at a far lower cost than conventional methods. Created by Phelcom Technologies, a startup based at São Carlos in São Paulo State, Brazil, the Eyer can be used for remote diagnosis by an ophthalmologist via telemedicine.

Image: digital capture of an eye; Copyright: panthermedia.net / cosmin momir

A digital look inside the human eye – when algorithms diagnose Diabetes

02.01.2019

Diabetes mellitus or simply diabetes has become very common and is often described as a lifestyle disease. More and more people are suffering from this chronic metabolic disorder. Next to established diagnostic procedures, digital retinal screening has shown to be successful - a promising technique that will also play an important role in the diagnosis of other diseases in the future.

Image: Woman puts her arms around the retina scanner and looks smilingly to the side into the camera; Copyright: Mimo AG

Collect, process, communicate – retina measurements with Mimo

19.12.2018

Continuous monitoring is an essential process with every disease. In the case of eye disorders, frequent retina measurements can facilitate early detection of deterioration to quickly initiate intervention. This calls for comprehensive care settings, easy ways to take measurements and prompt results. However, in reality, this is rarely the case.

Image: Illustration of the Leipzig spoon, which is pushed to the back of the eye; Copyright: University of Leipzig/M. Francke

The "Leipzig Spoon" to cure pathological myopia

22.09.2017

Many people all over the world suffer from myopia, also known as nearsightedness. A severe elongation of the eyeball is the cause behind it. If it continues to progress, it ultimately leads to complete loss of vision. Now an innovative medical device intends to stop this progression in the future.

Image: An eye surgeon and an assistant are treating a patient with a surgical laser; Copyright: University Hospital Dresden/Felix Koopmann

Eye surgery: precision and prevention with femtosecond lasers

03.07.2017

Precision work is absolutely essential in eye surgery since the surgical site is very minute and sensitive. This is why eye surgeons have been using lasers for years. Femtosecond lasers are especially well suited to serve this purpose because they are able to cut tissue with great precision and little energy, which prevents unwanted side effects of surgery.

Light instead of darkness – Seeing with the Argus II Implant

29.03.2017

Retinitis pigmentosa is a hereditary eye disorder, which can lead to night blindness, restriction of the peripheral visual field and ultimately to blindness. The University Hospital Aachen, Germany, implants the Argus II retinal prosthesis system made by the Second Sight Company. It allows people with retinitis pigmentosa to perceive light and improve orientation.

Image: Look over the shoulder of an eye surgeon who is operating at a microscope; Copyright: panthermedia.net/mearicon

Ophthalmology today and tomorrow: surgery and more

01.02.2017

Ophthalmology procedures and eye surgeries have been around since ancient times. Today we can hardly imagine the types of circumstances that surrounded any surgical procedures to our perhaps most important sense organ in those days and later eras. Meanwhile, the present and future of this medical specialty looks all the more promising.

Image: Different eye stents lying beside a coin; Copyright: I.Chen

Stents versus Eye Drops: a new approach to aid glaucoma patients

01.02.2017

Using stents to treat glaucoma is not a new procedure but they have not been implanted into patients on a regular basis until only recently. But this is about to change, which is why MEDICA.de asked what these glaucoma mini-stents are able to do and who may be a good candidate for them. Professor Norbert Pfeiffer answered our questions.

Image: Image of a bird in greyscale and blurred; Copyright: Universitätsklinikum Tübingen

Gene therapy for the treatment of achromatopsia

01.02.2017

Achromatopsia is a rare hereditary visual disorder. Along with total color blindness, patients most notably suffer from reduced visual acuity and increased sensitivity to light and glare.