Chronic migraine sufferers tend to be in poorer general health, less well off, and more depressed than those with episodic migraine, reveals research published ahead of print in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. The findings are based on almost 12,000 adults with episodic — a severe headache on up to 14 days of [...]

Bifocal glasses may be effective in slowing the progression of myopia in children with high rates of progression, according to a new report. The report followed a study in which doctors conducted a randomised, controlled clinical trial among 135 Chinese-Canadian children in one practice with progressing myopia. Participating children were assigned to one of three [...]

Myopia may be more common now than 30 years ago, according to a new report. Researchers in the US compared American population prevalence estimates for myopia from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in 4,436 black and white participants from 1971 to 1972 and in 8,339 black and white participants from 1999 to [...]

Dr Edward O’Sullivan — Clinical Director of the Migraine Clinic in Cork University Hospital — outlines the types of migraine headache and how they affect patients’ lives Migraine is a common neurological disorder characterised by recurrent bouts of severe headache with autonomic and neurological symptoms. In clinical practice it varies from being an infrequent episodic [...]

Injecting the eye with the corticosteroid triamcinolone appears effective in improving the vision of some patients with retinal vein occlusion, according to a new study. In the study, which involved 271 patients with macular oedema from central retinal vein occlusion, 92 were assigned to receive 1mg of intravitreal triamcinolone, 91 received a 4mg dose and [...]

Use of beta blockers and ACE inhibitors seem to increase the risk of corrective cataract surgery, a new study has found. In the study, Australian researchers tracked the eye health of over 3,500 people for between five and 10 years. At the start of the study in 1992-4, all participants were at least 49 years [...]

Implantable lenses made of a collagen-like substance appear to provide stable correction of moderate-to-high myopia over four years of follow-up, according to a new study. According to background information supplied by the study’s authors, laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK) ‘has gained widespread popularity as a safe and effective surgical method for the correction of myopia, but [...]

Certain types of anti-hypertensive drugs seem to increase the risk of corrective cataract surgery, new Australian research has suggested. The Australian researchers tracked the eye health of over 3,500 people for between five and 10 years. When the researchers examined the use of hyper-tensives, they found a borderline association between cataract surgery in patients and [...]

ED drugs have no visual side effects says study The erectile dysfunction medications, tadalafil and sildenafil, do not appear to have visual side effects when taken daily for six months, according to a new report. In the research, doctors led by researchers from Eli Lilly and Co. conducted a randomised placebo-controlled study to assess changes [...]

Emmanuelle Pinjon looks at pioneering research being done in TCD into finding a gene therapy for retinitis pigmentosa. An injection at the back of the retina every few years may one day be enough to alleviate the symptoms of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), one of the most common causes of blindness. Speaking at the conference marking [...]