Can candy canes cure dry eye disease? Researchers say yes. And yum!

Can an candy cane cure dry eye disease?

This holiday season, try sucking on a candy cane to cure your dry eye disease.  A study by researchers at the Department of Physiology of Nepal Medical College in Kathmandu set out to determine enjoyment of a mouth-watering candy can increase tear production in your eyes.  Read more at DryEyeDoctor. ca...

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Traumatic brain injury often results in convergence insufficiency. But could there be more vision problems?

Traumatic brain injury often results in convergence insufficiency.  But could there be more vision problems?  That is the question that researchers investigated in a recent study published in Optometry & Vision Science.

The researchers looked at the medical records of 557 brain injury patients and assessed the visual acuity, oculomotor function, binocular vision function, accommodation, visual fields, ocular health, and vestibular function for each patient.

Only 9% of the TBI brain injury patients had convergence insufficiency without the following simultaneous diagnoses: saccade or pursuit dysfunction; third, fourth, or sixth cranial nerve palsy; visual field deficit; visual spatial inattention/neglect; vestibular dysfunction; or nystagmus.

It was far more common for the brain injury patients to have convergence insufficiency with other vision problems.  Here are some examples:

• Photophobia (light sensitivity) together with convergence insufficiency was observed in 16.3% (21 of 130), 
• vestibular dysfunction together with convergence insufficiency was observed in 18.5% (24 of 130) 
• Convergence insufficiency and cranial nerve palsies were present in 23.3% (130 of 557) and 26.9% (150 of 557), respectively

Other vision disorders were also present.   Accommodative dysfunction was common, as were visual field deficits or unilateral visual spatial inattention/neglect.

The study findings support the idea that patients who have suffered a traumatic brain injury need a comprehensive eye exam that tests for a wide variety of vision problems.  Where visual problems are found to result from a brain injury, vision therapy is an effective treatment. 

Image courtesy of Victor Habbick / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Dry eye syndrome after cataract surgery

At our Vancouver eye clinic, we see and treat lots of patients who have dry eyes following cataract surgery.  Cataract surgery results in dry eye syndrome because the surgery cuts the nerves in the cornea of the eye, which impairs the ability of the eye to create a proper tear film. The result is dry eye.   Dry eye can cause pain, irritation and  decreased vision.  Here's what everyone contemplating cataract surgery should know about what to do about dry eye.  Read more...

Eye drops image courtesey of marin/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.