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TIPS, TRENDS & NEWS YOU CAN USE

COMPANY OFFERS ONE - TIME OPTION TO UPGRADE CURRENT SMART EYEWEAR DEVICE

Google Glass Explorers Offered Trade-in Program

■ After analyzing monthly Google Glass Explorer feedback, the company says it’s allowing its 8,000 Google-selected testers the one-time option to swap their current device for one that works with, “future lines of shades and prescription frames,” says a recent company blog.

Explorers will have 60 days from when the trade-in program opens to register for an exchange.

Google has tapped Rochester Optical, in Rochester, N.Y., to create custom prescription, sport and fashion lenses for Glass that will be available for purchase in early 2014. Also, the technology juggernaut is in discussions with VSP Global, their vision plan, regarding the creation of fashionable frames and special prescription lenses for the smart eyewear, in addition to training optometrists to fit Google Glass, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Brien Holden Vision Website Launches The Brien Holden Vision website (www.brienholdenvision.com) made its debut at the annual American Academy of Optometry meeting this past October in Seattle. The site is comprised of commercial subsidiaries, including visioncare products (e.g. contact lenses, solutions), technology (e.g. affordable instruments that identify eye and health problems) and social entrepreneurship (e.g. vision care delivery systems and facilities based on best-practice affordable care).

TIPS ENABLE YOU TO GET A JUMP ON THE PEDIATRIC VISION ESSENTIAL HEALTH BENEFIT.

AOA Provides Six Steps to Acquire New Pediatric Patients

▪ To prepare O.D.s for the pediatric vision essential health benefit, the AOA has provided these steps:

1 Determine which of your existing plans’ contracts include an “all-products clause.” All-products clause laws vary by state.

2 Be aware of new health plan and vision plan alliances. A few of the health plans now contracting with vision plans may contract for a materials-only benefit.

3 Determine whether you are listed as a participating provider in all new plans. Examine exchange and health plan websites, or contact insurance companies directly.

4 Pay attention to prevalent trends. This includes the narrowing of provider networks and/or alterations in plan terms, such as reimbursement changes.

5 Ask for help. Seek assistance from trusted business and legal professionals about your practice situation and contract concerns.

6 Consider the “Power of the Pen.” This enables AOA members to conduct a detailed contract review. Visit www.aoa.org/x3746.xml (member log-in required.)

MAKE YOUR PATIENTS’ HOLIDAYS SAFE BY GIVING THEM THESE GUIDELINES.

PBA Gives Holiday Gift-Buying Tips

▪ To promote the importance of giving safe toys this holiday season, Prevent Blindness America has declared December as “Safe Toys and Gifts Month” and has provided the following toy-buying tips, which you can give to your patients:

▸ Read all warnings and instructions on the box.

▸ Ask yourself or the parent whether the toy is right for the child’s ability and age.

▸ Avoid purchasing toys that have sharp or rigid points, spikes, rods or dangerous edges.

▸ Check the lenses and frames of children’s sunglasses (many can break and cause injuries).

▸ Buy impact-resistant toys.

▸ Look for the letters “ASTM.”

This means the product meets the national safety standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

▸ Avoid toys that shoot or include parts that fly off.

▸ Provide protective gear, such as goggles, with sports equipment gifts, such as a basketball.

▸ Don’t give toys that have small parts to young children, as they’ll put them in their mouths. If the part of a toy can fit in a toilet paper roll, the toy is not appropriate for children under the age of three.

▸ Do not purchase toys that have long strings or cords, especially for infants and very young children. Such toys can become wrapped around a child’s neck.

▸ Always dispose of uninflated or broken balloons immediately. More children have suffocated from them than any other type of toy, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

STUDY IMPLICATES AIR POLLUTION AS A TRIGGER OF DRY EYE DISEASE

Urbanites and High-Altitude Area Residents at Increased DED Risk

▪ Residents of major cities that have high air pollution levels, such as Chicago and New York City, and those who live in high-altitude areas, such as Washington State, have a greater risk of dry eye disease (DED) vs. other locations, says Environmental Factors and Dry Eye Syndrome: A Study Utilizing the National U.S. Veterans Affairs Administrative Database, presented at the 117th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The researchers arrived at this conclusion after assessing the health records of 606,708 U.S. veterans who obtained DED treatment in one of 394 VA clinics in the continental United States from July 2006 through July 2011.

What this means for O.D.s: If you practice in one of these areas, be especially vigilant in identifying patients who may have DED. In addition, be sure to recommend environmental manipulations, such as changing air filters every three months, as part of the overall management of DED patients, say the study’s researchers.

PHOTO CREDIT: NARESH KUMAR, PH.D.

Geographic distribution of the prevalence of DED (top figure) and air pollution (bottom figure) (measured by satellite-derived Aerosol Optical Depth [AOD] at VA facilities in the U.S., July 5, 2006 through July 4, 2011. Only VA facilities with greater than average prevalence of DED (i.e. 15.99%) and average value of AOD (i.e. 0.205) are shown on the maps. The standard deviations (SD) of DES and AOD were ~9.3% and ~ 0.08, respectively.

RESEARCH Notes

● German researchers have discovered a mechanism that can activate one of the protective proteins responsible for maintaining the lens’ clarity, says October’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. As a result, they think this finding could lead to cataract treatments other than surgery.

● Neovascular AMD is associated with erectile dysfunction, reveals the Sept. 26 online version of the Journal of Ophthalmology.

● Individuals at high risk for CNV development who utilized the ForeseeHome device (Notal Vision Ltd, Tel Aviv, Israel) demonstrated better VA at CNV detection vs. those who employed standard care methods to self monitor their progression of AMD, shows November’s Ophthalmology.

● Birth control pill use for three or more years appears to double the risk of glaucoma, says research presented at the 117th Annual American Academy of Ophthalmology Meeting in New Orleans.

Santinelli Names Rimless Eyewear Contest Winner

Charlie Blankenship, ABOC, of The Spectacle Shoppe, Inc., in Saint Paul, Minn., won Santinelli International’s “Think Outside the Box Edge” Rimless Eyewear contest with these sun-shaped lenses (below). The contest, created as part of Santinelli’s 40th Anniversary celebration, invited the company’s drilling lens edger clients to create a pair of “highly imaginative rimless eyewear” using the device’s Design Cut technology. Mr. Blankenship, along with a second and third-prize winner, also won vouchers toward a Santinelli product. To view all contest entries, visit www.santinelli.com/ThinkOutsidetheBoxEdge.