Eye

Cataracts are one of the most common forms of vision impairment, and unfortunately surgery is the only real treatment. But the clouds may be parting on a new drug treatment, improving the vision of the majority of mice it was tested on.

A prototype smartphone app has been developed to screen for the very earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The app tracks minute changes in a person’s pupil size, which previous research has shown can indicate pre-clinical neurological disease.

Scientists have found that an existing drug, already used in humans, could help restore vision lost to conditions like age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa. The discovery could also lead to a whole new class of drugs.

If diabetes progresses too far, it can result in a potentially blinding condition known as retinopathy. And while existing treatments are invasive and often painful, there may be new hope in the form of an LED-equipped contact lens.

We've looked at many studies and research prototypes demonstrating how contact lenses could be used for more than correcting vision, and a new approval from the FDA has now cleared the way for use of the world's first drug-delivering contact lens.

A new study has uncovered some useful new insights around how physical activity can improve ocular health, suggesting that regular exercise can promote hydration and stability of tear film, helping ward off dry and itchy eyes.

A new study has proposed that a simple retina scan could indicate whether a person is at risk of early death. The research found the greater the gap between a person’s chronological age and retinal age the higher their risk of dying.

The first FDA-approved eye drops to treat age-related blurry near vision (presbyopia) has gone on sale in the US, offering a potential alternative to reading glasses for the estimated 128 million Americans affected by this common condition.

When astronauts stay in outer space for extended periods, they frequently develop a vision problem known as spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS). Scientists are now trying to keep that from happening, via a vacuum-sealed sleeping bag.

There may be new hope for people with certain types of blindness, as an experimental sight-restoring device has been deemed safe for implantation. It still has to be tested on humans, though, and it will likely provide a rudimentary form of vision.

Ordinarily when someone requires a prosthetic eye, a mold has to be made of their eye socket, after which the prosthesis is built by hand. A new 3D printing system, however, is claimed to be much quicker, and to produce a more realistic-looking eye.

As we age, our eyesight naturally declines, but a new study has found just three minutes of exposure to 670-nanometer red light in the morning can help deteriorating vision, improving color contrast vision by nearly 20 percent.