Sunday, April 25, 2010
Blue Eyed Malaysian Boy
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)
Sunday April 18, 2010
These old eyes
By Dr KEWALJIT SINGH
Young eyes, old eyes ... A study showed a 2% risk of AMD during middle age, but this risk increased to nearly 30% in those over age 75. – AFP Dr Kewaljit Singh is a consultant ophthalmologist.
He will be speaking at a public health talk entitled ‘Don’t let ageing, diabetes and sunlight damage your eyes’ on April 24, in Bukit Kiara Resort. To reserve a seat, please contact 03-55693660. This article is courtesy of Cambert. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Information published in this article is not intended to replace, supplant or augment a consultation with a health professional regarding the reader’s own medical care. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Laser Eyebag Removal anyone?
Marissa Esthetic, a surgical cosmetic clinic has so many things to offer for anyone willing to go under the knife.
Well, not surgery exactly, but among others it claims to have fiber optics or laser treatment. This fiber optics surgery is for eye-bags removal.
Other services being offered include skin treatment, hormone replacement therapy,
How effective or safe these treatments are, I am not sure. Read the blog posting of the
I hope some experts on this would comment further.
Below is an article in yesterday's Mingguan Malaysia by a Dr Rushmini Maris Ismail (not sure if she's an ophthalmologist or a plastic surgeon) promoting her services on laser/fiber optic treatment for people with bad looking eye-bags.
The article also carries an ad to the Marissa Esthetics website and Poliklinik Penawar Semenyih.
Well, not surgery exactly, but among others it claims to have fiber optics or laser treatment. This fiber optics surgery is for eye-bags removal.
Other services being offered include skin treatment, hormone replacement therapy,
| COLON CLEANSING |
| CHEMICAL PEELING |
| EDTA (CHELATION) |
| Enzyme Therapy |
| FILLERS |
| GLUTATHIONE |
| LASERLIPOLISIS |
| MICRODERMABRASION |
| SERDEV SUTURE |
| SKIN CARE |
| SURGILIPS |
| SKIN TIGHTENING |
| SILKY SKIN HAIR REMOVAL |
How effective or safe these treatments are, I am not sure. Read the blog posting of the
Laser Eye Bag Removal
The treatment costs RM1,200 and it is a special offer from the clinic.I hope some experts on this would comment further.
Below is an article in yesterday's Mingguan Malaysia by a Dr Rushmini Maris Ismail (not sure if she's an ophthalmologist or a plastic surgeon) promoting her services on laser/fiber optic treatment for people with bad looking eye-bags.
The article also carries an ad to the Marissa Esthetics website and Poliklinik Penawar Semenyih.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Trials for 'bionic' eye implants
By Jonathan Fildes (Science and technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco)
A bionic eye implant that could help restore the sight of millions of blind people could be available to patients within two years.
US researchers have been given the go-ahead to implant the prototype device in 50 to 75 patients.
The Argus II system uses a spectacle-mounted camera to feed visual information to electrodes in the eye.
Patients who tested less-advanced versions of the retinal implant were able to see light, shapes and movement.
"What we are trying to do is take real-time images from a camera and convert them into tiny electrical pulses that would jump-start the otherwise blind eye and allow patients to see," said Professor Mark Humayun, from the University of Southern California.
Bionic eye technology
1: Camera on glasses views image
2: Signals are sent to hand-held device
3: Processed information is sent back to glasses and wirelessly transmitted to receiver under surface of eye
4: Receiver sends information to electrodes in retinal implant
5: Electrodes stimulate retina to send information to brain
Retinal implants are able to partially restore the vision of people with particular forms of blindness caused by diseases such as macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.
About 1.5 million people worldwide have retinitis pigmentosa, and one in 10 people over the age of 55 have age-related macular degeneration.
Both diseases cause the retinal cells which process light at the back of the eye to gradually die.
The new devices work by implanting an array of tiny electrodes into the back of the retina.
A camera is used to capture pictures, and a processing unit, about the size of a small handheld computer and worn on a belt, converts the visual information into electrical signals.
These are then sent back to the glasses and wirelessly on to a receiver just under the surface of the front of the eye, which in turn feeds them to the electrodes at the rear.
The whole process happens in real time.
Growing dots
First-generation, low-resolution devices have already been fitted to six patients.
"The longest device has been in for five years," said Professor Humayun.
"It's amazing, even with 16 pixels, or electrodes, how much our first six subjects have been able to do."
Terry Byland, 58, from California was fitted with an implant in 2004 after going blind with retinitis pigmentosa in 1993.
"At the beginning, it was like seeing assembled dots - now it's much more than that," he said.
"When I am walking along the street I can avoid low-hanging branches - I can see the edges of the branches."
Mr Byland is also able to make out other shapes.
"I can't recognise faces, but I can see them like a dark shadow," he said.
Brain change
The new implant has a higher resolution than the earlier devices, with 60 electrodes.
It is also a lot smaller, about one square millimetre, which reduces the amount of surgery that needs to be done to implant the device.
The technology has now been given the go-ahead by the US Food and Drug Administration to be used in an exploratory patient trial.
This will take place at five centres across America over two years, with 50-75 patients aged over 50.
If successful, the device could be commercialised soon after, costing around $30,000 (£15,000). Other devices could then be developed with higher resolution or a wider field of view, said Professor Humayun.
Future work includes studying the effects the implants have on the brain.
"We are actually studying what happens to the visual cortex over time," said Professor Humayun.
The research was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in San Francisco, US.
A bionic eye implant that could help restore the sight of millions of blind people could be available to patients within two years.
US researchers have been given the go-ahead to implant the prototype device in 50 to 75 patients.
The Argus II system uses a spectacle-mounted camera to feed visual information to electrodes in the eye.
Patients who tested less-advanced versions of the retinal implant were able to see light, shapes and movement.
"What we are trying to do is take real-time images from a camera and convert them into tiny electrical pulses that would jump-start the otherwise blind eye and allow patients to see," said Professor Mark Humayun, from the University of Southern California.
Bionic eye technology
1: Camera on glasses views image
2: Signals are sent to hand-held device
3: Processed information is sent back to glasses and wirelessly transmitted to receiver under surface of eye
4: Receiver sends information to electrodes in retinal implant
5: Electrodes stimulate retina to send information to brain
Retinal implants are able to partially restore the vision of people with particular forms of blindness caused by diseases such as macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.
About 1.5 million people worldwide have retinitis pigmentosa, and one in 10 people over the age of 55 have age-related macular degeneration.
Both diseases cause the retinal cells which process light at the back of the eye to gradually die.
The new devices work by implanting an array of tiny electrodes into the back of the retina.
A camera is used to capture pictures, and a processing unit, about the size of a small handheld computer and worn on a belt, converts the visual information into electrical signals.
These are then sent back to the glasses and wirelessly on to a receiver just under the surface of the front of the eye, which in turn feeds them to the electrodes at the rear.
The whole process happens in real time.
Growing dots
First-generation, low-resolution devices have already been fitted to six patients.
"The longest device has been in for five years," said Professor Humayun.
"It's amazing, even with 16 pixels, or electrodes, how much our first six subjects have been able to do."
Terry Byland, 58, from California was fitted with an implant in 2004 after going blind with retinitis pigmentosa in 1993.
"At the beginning, it was like seeing assembled dots - now it's much more than that," he said.
"When I am walking along the street I can avoid low-hanging branches - I can see the edges of the branches."
Mr Byland is also able to make out other shapes.
"I can't recognise faces, but I can see them like a dark shadow," he said.
Brain change
The new implant has a higher resolution than the earlier devices, with 60 electrodes.
It is also a lot smaller, about one square millimetre, which reduces the amount of surgery that needs to be done to implant the device.
The technology has now been given the go-ahead by the US Food and Drug Administration to be used in an exploratory patient trial.
This will take place at five centres across America over two years, with 50-75 patients aged over 50.
If successful, the device could be commercialised soon after, costing around $30,000 (£15,000). Other devices could then be developed with higher resolution or a wider field of view, said Professor Humayun.
Future work includes studying the effects the implants have on the brain.
"We are actually studying what happens to the visual cortex over time," said Professor Humayun.
The research was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in San Francisco, US.
Eye implant shows promise - BBC News
Blind patients given a pioneering retinal implant have managed to receive and decipher pictures sent from a video camera.
The artificial implant receives visual signals then converts them into an "image" which is transmitted into remaining healthy retinal cells via 16 electrodes.
So far patients, in the first trials of the device, have been able to distinguish between everyday objects such as a cup or a plate.
However, they have not yet "seen" these objects entirely through their own eyes - the pictures are taken by a video camera then sent to the implant.
The results were presented at the meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in the US.
Only three patients have so far received the implants, which measure four millimetres by five.
At first, patients were asked if they could "see" computer generated images sent to the implant.
Camera implant
Then an external video camera took pictures, then transmitted them to a receiver, which is also implanted, this time behind the patient's ear.
Professor Mark Humayun, from the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said: "We have found that the devices are indeed electrically conducting, and can be used by the patients to detect light or even distinguish between objects such as a cup or a plate in 'forced-choice' tests conducted with one patient so far.
"We plan in the near future to look at how useful the prosthesis can be in activities of daily living."
Clearer view
Although the implants in use so far have only a limited number of electrodes - meaning objects can be seen only in very low resolution, future models are hoped to have many more electrodes, improving the "vision" of patients.
The device is aimed at patients who are blind because of a degenerative eye disease such as retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration.
In these illnesses, while light-receiving cells at the back of the eye have died, the next layer of retinal cells, which begin the process of sending signals back to the brain, are intact.
The electrodes simply "plug into" those cells, allowing images to be sent directly to the brain.
Taken from BBC News dated 8 May 2003
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