Health News

IV Drugs Equal for Treating Macular Degeneration
Two medications commonly used to treat age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have been found to provide equal treatment benefit in the first long-term study comparing the drugs.  Injectable drugs Avastin ( bevacizumab ), an off-label cancer medication most frequently used to treat AMD, and Lucentis ( ranibizumab ), approved to treat AMD by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2006, both provided similar vision improvements at two years. Get regular vision exams to pinpoint vision loss early. Maureen Maguire, PhD, corresponding author and director of the Center for Preventi...
Vision Loss Not Tied to Aging
The National Eye Institute is gearing up for the May kick off of Healthy Vision Month by reminding, that while vision may change with age, vision loss is not a normal part of the aging process.
Fetal Membrane Transplant Prevents Blindness
The key to treating a rare disease that can cause blindness may be transplanting tissue from newborn fetal membranes, a study has found.
Mechanism Linked to AMD Found
Researchers have found that a key part of the immune system is linked to developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the most common causes of blindness.
An Eye For Lab-Built Retinas
Scientists have found a method for creating laboratory-built retina structures from human blood. The synthetic retinas could be used to study and test drugs for degenerative eye disease, including retinitis pigmentosa , which causes blindness.
Gene Therapy May Restore Vision
Gene therapy was previously shown to aid patients with congenital blindness in one eye. A small trial has found success in treating the second eye, restoring vision in dim-light settings.
Eyes Wide Open to Stem Cell Potential
Two women going blind from two different conditions are seeing better after the first known transplant of human embryonic stem cells into human patients.
An Eye Exam for an Eye Exam
Giving seniors who join Medicare a dilated eye exam instead of a standard exam or no exam is more likely to pick up on eye problems earlier - and it's more cost-effective long-term too.
Aspirin Bad For Eyes?
An aspirin a day may help keep heart disease at bay, but it may also contribute to age-related macular degeneration, or gradual vision loss, according to a new study from Europe.
The Eye's True Colors
Sometimes seeing the forest requires first seeing the trees - and the leaves on those trees. A new way to "see" regular changes in eye cells might lead to detecting retina problems as well.