Guest Articles
Supplementing Against Dry Eye Disease
- Written by Dr Patrick Herve, Managing Director, Lagad Vision Laboratory Ltd
Up to 38 per cent of the general population suffers from a degree of dry eye, according to the latest figures from the American Academy of Ophthalmology presented in Chicago in 2012. There is a dry eye epidemic in people aged between 15 and 25 years due to the extensive use of amartphones, video games, tablets, etc. More than 50 per cent of the presbyopic population is affected. This means that, overall, more than 50 per cent of opticans’ customers would greatly benefit from an effective treatment to alleviate their symptoms and improve their quality of life. Read the full article and post your thoughts/comments/questions in The Forum!
Cataract Referrals – A Few Clinical Pearls
- Written by Stanley Keys
Cataract Referrals – A Few Clinical Pearls
Beth Ralph FBDO CL offers an informed consent template for CL patients
- Written by Beth Ralph
I am a locum CLO available for hire Tuesdays & Thursdays Sheffield, North Notts, NE Derbyshire areas. Lots Experience in RGP, complex, multifocals. Training in Hybrid & scleral Lenses. Published in Optician & OT magazines. Proven business record at increasing turnover in CL's just ask your CL reps for Alcon, Cooper & Acuvue. Set up standing order systems & regular contact lens replacement schemes for independent Opticians. Staff training in contact lenses (Both professional & support team). Manage social media & website for independent. Please email me if you are interested with rates & location.
This Wear & Care is to offer all patients the latest gold standard advice on safe contact lens wear. It is also excellent record keeping as a copy will be kept with the patient records or scanned electronically so can be kept on a patient database. I would recommend a patient signs an updated copy every year or if patients are refitted with a different modality of contact lenses.
Beth can be contacted at email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Effective New Slit Lamp Techniques for Tear Hyperosmolarity in Dry Eye
- Written by Stephen Meynell, Clare Privato
Effective New Slit Lamp Techniques for Tear Hyperosmolarity in Dry Eye
By Stephen Meynell Bsc Hons and Clare Privato FBDO CL
Mrs Smith – a pleasant but frustrated lady in her 50's comes to you complaining of her dry eye; she has been to all the specialists in town and found no answers or cures. You are her last hope! You put in fluorescein, look with your slit lamp and you heart begins to sink! Just what is the culprit causing her symptoms? Is it her very obvious blepharitis? Or her smoking habit? Perhaps it's her conjunctival folds calling your attention or are her symptoms just due to her contact lenses? You want to wave your magic wand and help Mrs Smith restore her faith in optometric practice – and most especially your practice! But just where do you start?
PRESS RELEASE: ABDO Contact Lens Uncorrected Cylinder Trial Gives Fresh Insights for Contact Lens Practitioners
- Written by Andrew D Price
Embargoed until 10am 14th April 2018
The Association of British Dispensing Opticians will reveal results of a new clinical trial at Optrafair in Birmingham on Saturday 14th April.
When assessing a patient with low cylinder corrections, should you select a best sphere or a toric lens initially? The ABDO Contact Lens Uncorrected Cylinder Trial offers an insight into the positive and negative outcomes of the selection process and therefore enable the practitioner to make a more rational decision. It also points to areas where progress can be made to enable a Daily Disposable Toric Soft Contact Lens to become the lens of first choice.
Developments in EU regulation of Life Sciences and Brexit
- Written by Richard Young
We find ourselves in a turbulent, challenging but exciting time for the Medical Device and In Vitro Diagnostics Industries in The UK and Europe. In this article we will highlight the current status of regulation in Europe and consider how this, and Brexit will impact the way we do business going forwards.
Implementing a Myopia Control Specialty in Your Practice
- Written by Dr. Alan Glazier
Myopia control isn’t rocket science; every OD who reads this has the clinical skills and education to not only correct myopia but to apply the latest science to help patients manage progression of myopia. Care of myopic patients is Optometry’s core competence and as the standards change from just being able to correct myopia to being able to influence the progression it’s vital we own the methods behind myopia control, practice them and educate our patients on our abilities to do so. Arguably managing myopia is quickly becoming the standard of care; not just correcting it through standard methods.
Have you ever really considered the impact of a ‘Colour Blindness’ diagnosis?
- Written by Kathryn Albany-Ward
Kathryn Albany-Ward, Founder of Colour Blind Awareness
You might be surprised to learn that colour blindness can be considered both a disability and a Special Educational Need but despite this it is an under-recognised and poorly understood condition.
Let’s start by being honest. Do you screen children for CVD on first visit as a matter of course? If you do screen, once you’ve given a patient a diagnosis of colour blindness, how often do you think about the impact this will really have on their everyday life? Do you think it’s condition which isn’t really that important?
Have you ever wondered how the street outside your premises might appear or the immediate challenges they might face just to get home? If they are a child, how might they see their classroom? How might their confidence and even their mental health be affected?
The role of research in the ABDO
- Written by Andrew D Price
Professional organisations have as an ethos, dedication to the advancement of the knowledge and practice of professions through developing, supporting, regulating and promoting professional standards for technical and ethical competence.
In this they are all concerned with the public benefit as well as the reputation of professionals. They aim to maintain and develop professionalism and thereby securing high quality professional services for society.
In line with that general statement of the nature of professional organisations the ABDO’s specific objectives are:
‘To support, protect and advance the character, status and interests of dispensing opticians’.
‘The advancement, for the benefit of the public, of the science and art of dispensing optics and promotion of research into such science and art, provided that the useful results of any such research is disseminated for public benefit’
Within the structure of the ABDO exists the facility to encourage and develop their member’s ideas on possible research subjects that fulfil those criteria. The Education Trust encourages and promotes education and research in the art and science of dispensing optics for the public benefit. An excellent article on the subject appeared in issue 34 of Re:View. If you don't have it email me This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. I will send it to you. For an initial informal exploration of your ideas contact Alexandra Webster BMus, MSc, PGDipE, FBDO CL, FHEA by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
An example of a small-scale in-practice clinical trial, the results of which were first published in clinical trials poster form (click Read more to see full poster) on the ABDO stand at Optrafair in 2018, was the ABDO Contact Lens Uncorrected Cylinder (CLUC) Trial comparing low-cyl toric contact lenses to spherical lenses. The results of which not only proved very interesting but had direct implications in practice.
This is but an example, your idea for consideration could be related to any aspect of practice in the role of DO or CLO that could fulfil the ABDO’s objectives.
Addressing Contact Lens Symptoms with Punctal Occlusion Treatment
- Written by Andrew D Price
Following a recent conference where the subject of punctal occlusion treatment (POT) came up on more than one occasion it was felt worthwhile to look again at a 2017 clinical trial investigating the effect of such a treatment on contact lens discomfort. These results indicated that POT can produce statistically significant improvements in the frequency, severity, and overall sum of subjective symptoms associated with dryness among SCL wearers, while the categorical InflammaDry (ID) test showed improvement although no statistically significant change was found. These results indicate that POT is a promising option for SCL wearers who have dryness complaints.
I would encourage you to look especially at the CLDEQ-8 results and Additional Analysis. It is important to note that all subjects were only included for POT after establishing there was no active ocular surface inflammation by the ID test at the point of treatment, not the same date as baseline. The trial was jointly funded by a grant from Positive Impact and Beaver Visitec International. Further product information can be obtained from Positive Impact by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Discussion on the clinical trial welcomed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.