Combating Eyewear Modernization

"Leaders of the Vizhnitz Hasidism have issued new instructions in regards to the purchase of eyeglasses, as part of their attempt to combat modernization," according to YNetNews.

Carrera Launches New Marketing Campaign

Carry Carrera. Then you probably should visit www.carreraworld.com and see the collection's new marketing campaign, called "After All, No Regrets."

Luxottica Replaces Earthquake Victims Eyewear and CLs

ScoopNews reports that "as a result of the devastating impact of the Christchurch earthquake last Tuesday, eyewear company Luxottica will provide any individual or family directly affected by the earthquake with free replacement of their damaged prescription glasses or contact lenses."

Reporter Whines about Buying Glasses

Read this lame approach to eyewear proposed in a WashingtonPost
story: "A trip to the eye doctor can be stressful, from the mental duress of answering 'Which one is clearer, one or two?' to the daunting task of choosing frames. Luckily, you can minimize the stress while boosting your bottom line by ordering glasses or contacts online - but this isn't a one-click process." Answering "which one is clearer" creates duress? Choosing a frame is daunting? Has this reporter used a dictionary?

AAO Bashes KY for Optometric Surgery Bill

According to DailyFinance, "The following statement was released by Richard L. Abbott, MD, president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, in response to the Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear signing an optometric surgery bill that presents serious risks to patients into law:

"The signing of Senate Bill 110 into law is a serious blow to patient safety in Kentucky. In almost every state in the country, eye surgery is performed by medical doctors with years of extensive medical and surgical training and experience. Now in Kentucky complicated eyelid surgeries, laser glaucoma surgeries and corneal punctures can be handled by optometrists with little more surgical experience than a weekend mini-course. Just like we only rely on trained pilots to fly our airplanes, surgery should only be performed by surgeons. Optometrists simply do not have the training necessary to perform these procedures or manage the kinds of serious complications that can arise during surgery. Surgical proficiency is acquired through years of medical education and clinical training by medical doctors. For the sake of patient safety across the commonwealth, Governor Beshear and the legislature need to take another look at the complications and impact of this dangerous law, before it's too late."

Register Today for OpticalCEU’s 2011 Spring Continuing Education Seminar at Foxwoods

You can register for OpticalCEU's 2011 Spring Continuing Education Conference at Foxwoods—now. You can do it online at www.opticalceu.com/RegisterNowSpring2011.html. You may call (203-366-5991).

Here's the lineup for the Spring 2011 Conference:

• 8:30 AM: Registration at the MGM Grand Conference Center with complimentary coffee, tea, or decaf.
  
• 9-10 AM: History of Eyeglasses (1 ABO)
  
• 10-11 AM: In the Beginning: Embryonic Eye Development (1 NCLE)
  
• 11-Noon Cosmetics of Contacts (1 NCLE)
  
• Noon-1 PM: Complimentary Lunch for All Attendees (See the post below for details)
  
• 1-2 PM: What's Up with Myopia (1 NCLE)
  
• 2-3 PM: Make Sunwear Important with the New ot the World Sun Lens (1 ABO)
  
• 3-4 PM: The Boomer Business (1 ABO)
  
• 4-5 PM: Trends in Fitting Younger Contact Lens Patients (1 NCLE)
  

The semi-annual event, which has been running for more than a decade and last spring's conference setting attendance records, will have its great line-up of speakers and their excellent multimedia presentations. They will cover a variety of topics regarding vision care, eyewear, and contact lenses, providing opticians and ECPs with as many as seven ABO/NCLE continuing education credits, notes Linda Conlin.

As usual, the economical fee will include free coffee or tea for attendees arriving for the morning sessions. In addition, opticians and ECPs attending a full day of sessions (seven credits), sessions only in the morning (three credits), or sessions only in the afternoon (four credits) can enjoy a complimentary lunch. Here's the menu for OpticalCEUs 2011 Spring Conference for opticians and ECPs:

• Soup and Salads: hearty minestrone soup; crisp iceberg lettuce with pepperoncini peppers, garbanzo beans, chopped tomatoes, and crumbled feta cheese served with either a house vinaigrette or buttermilk ranch dressing; tortellini pasta salad.
  
• Make Your Own Hot Sandwich: Philly cheese steaks with shaved rib-eye beef, melted cheese, grilled mushrooms and onions; honey BBQ pulled pork; eggplant Florentine; all served with fresh Hoagie rolls and seasoned curly fries.
  
• Desserts: chocolate fudge cake, blueberry lemon meringue cake, mandarin Earl Grey cake, along with coffee and assorted teas.
  

Course information and registration will be available online by the middle of March 2011. For directions to the resort, follow this link: Directions by car to Foxwoods. For information about the conference, email Linda Conlin at F.E.Enterprises@opticalceu.com.

New Treatment for Wet AMD before FDA

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for VEGF Trap-Eye for the treatment of the neovascular form of age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD).

New and Better Way of Dealing with Dry Eyes and CLs?

Read this if you have customers with severe dry-eye problems: "Inventor Dr. Courtenay created the Eye~POD to answer his struggles with dry eyes, a side effect of Bells-Palsy, " according to a post on Yahoo!Finance. "The affliction was caused by scratching his eye with a fingernail while putting in contact lenses. The quest for easier ways to put in eye-drops lead to easier ways to put in contacts. He succeeded in blending these functions into a single device with eight… eye care methods (http://eyepodmagic.com), dramatically changing the ways people use eye drops and contact lenses….The design efficiencies significantly lower the costs of eye care."

New Electronics Frontier Also the Optical Frontier

"A prototype implantable eye pressure monitor for glaucoma patients is believed to contain the first complete millimeter-scale computing system," says MedicalNewsToday. "And a compact radio that needs no tuning to find the right frequency could be a key enabler to organizing millimeter-scale systems into wireless sensor networks. These networks could one day track pollution, monitor structural integrity, perform surveillance, or make virtually any object smart and trackable. Both developments at the University of Michigan are significant milestones in the march toward millimeter-scale computing, believed to be the next electronics frontier."

Little Things (Like Sears Optical) Don’t Go Unnoticed

CommArts
notes that "With this spot Sponge, Chicago draws a parallel between people missing small, but important details in their daily lives and missing Sears Optical. The big idea: Anyone not going to Sears Optical is missing something. The Result: Increased sales and higher awareness through increased conversation, sharing and spoofing of the spots across social media platforms."

Another Pitcher Goes Under the Knife

ContactLenses.Co.Uk reports that "Chris Volstad, the pitcher for the Florida Marlins, recently followed the example of his teammate Josh Johnson and had the procedure on his right eye, blogs.palmbeachpost.com reported. Johnson told the blog that Volstad used glasses to correct his vision problem - which was blurriness in his eye - but never wore the aids when he was around others. After being given advice by his teammate, Volstad decided to correct his problem with Lasik eye surgery and used the services of Dr Cory Lessner, who operated on Johnson."

Free Eye Exams for KS Kids

"Kansas optometrists are using this week to ensure all kids can see to learn," reports WIBW.com. "'See to Learn Week' is a project of the Eye Care Council where the state's 250 member optometrists offer free vision assessments to 3-year olds. Dr. Bill Hefner of Topeka says it's an age when children are a bit more verbal and able to give accurate answers, yet still young enough that any problems can be addressed with a positive outcome. Hefner says, when abnormalities are caught early, they are often easier to treat and have a better result."

Four Misconceptions about Medicare from the “Wall Street Journal”

There are four misconceptions regarding Medicare, according to an article in the WallStreetJournal. Number three involves eye care: "Traditional Medicare doesn't cover routine dental care, eyeglasses, hearing aids or custodial long-term care. It generally won't cover health care you receive while traveling outside the U.S. To get extra coverage for things such as vision care, one option is to instead go with a Medicare Advantage plan, which is run by a private insurer. (With cuts in federal subsidies coming in 2012, insurers have cut the number of Advantage plans they offer.) These plans are required to provide the same coverage as Medicare Part A and Part B, but the cost-sharing is different, says Vicki Gottlich, senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy in Washington." You might want to download and photocopy for some of your patients.

Reading Doesn’t Require Vision. That’s the Word from “Current Biology”

"The portion of the brain responsible for visual reading doesn't require vision at all, according to a new study published online on February 17 in Current Biology," reports MedicalNewsToday. "Brain imaging studies of blind people as they read words in Braille show activity in precisely the same part of the brain that lights up when sighted readers read. The findings challenge the textbook notion that the brain is divided up into regions that are specialized for processing information coming in via one sense or another, the researchers say."

Optometrist May Get to Cut in KY

"A controversial bill that would allow optometrists to perform certain types of laser surgery and other procedures completed its express route through the legislature on Friday," reports the Courier-Journal.
"The House approved Senate Bill 110 on an 81-14 vote — making it the first measure this session to win approval from both houses of the General Assembly and be sent to Gov. Steve Beshear."

States Look to Cut Medicaid Vision Benefits

"New York State spent more than $20 billion on Medicaid this fiscal year — or nearly a quarter of the total operating budget. With the state confronting a projected $10 billion deficit for next year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has little choice but to cut back the program," goes an editorial in the NYTimes. "New York also provides a large menu of 'optional benefits,' including prescription drugs, dental and vision care…That is good for the health of low-income residents, but savings will have to be found." Yesterday California senators, facing similar challenges as New York's politicians, considered cutting its Medicaid vision benefits but backed off.

LI Businesses Cut Vision Coverage

“ Businesses' nickel-and-diming health insurance coverage has finally hit vision care,” reports LongIslandBusinessNews . “Against a backdrop of rocketing health insurance costs, companies had long seen vision insurance as an inexpensive perk untouched by the problems of the health insurance industry.”

CA Senate Keeps Vision Care

California is facing economic tough times. It must cut its budget. Vision care sat on the chopping block. “Before considering the proposal to fully eliminate vision coverage for the nearly one million children in the Healthy Families program, Senator [Mark] Leno ... recounted his own 'vivid memory' as a 4th grade student, suddenly being able to see again after a visit to an eye doctor and receiving glasses,” reports CaliforniaProgressReport. “For that cut, the Democratic majority voted to reject the $11 million proposal to eliminate vision coverage, but to instead restrict coverage for $3 million in budget savings.”

British 4th Estate Gets Wound Up about a Pair of Specs

“ Prince Charles gets double vision as both he and Camilla wear tortoiseshell glasses.” That was the headline in London'sDailyMailwhen the Prince of Wales and Lady Camilla showed at a dinner of business executives, whom the prince was addressing.

Luxottica Expands into Mexico

After expanding in New Zealand and Austrailia, Luxottica Group S.p.A. says it has entered into an agreement to acquire Stanza and High Tech, two sunglass specialty retail chains totaling more than 70 stores in Mexico.