Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Dry Eye Internet Symposium
Everybody experiences dry eye caused by dry air. For millions worldwide, dry eye is a chronic, potentially serious problem. The condition can be slowed but only if the patient understands the complex causes and resulting changes to their eyes' tear film. Because the NATURE'S TEARS® EyeMist® is unlike any other product for dry eye caused by dry air, education is important for maximum benefit
Bio-Logic Aqua TechnologiesTM presents this symposium, the result of a decade of water and hydrotherapy research, as part of its ongoing commitment to education and the health of the world.
For other questions about applying NATURE'S TEARS®, or about dry eye in general, we invite you to e-mail either the Founder, Sharon Kleyne, or our Medical Coordinator, Dr. Stephen Gugenheim. Contact them at: sharon@1dryair.com or drsteve@1dryair.com.
Visit the symposium here
Bio-Logic Aqua TechnologiesTM presents this symposium, the result of a decade of water and hydrotherapy research, as part of its ongoing commitment to education and the health of the world.
For other questions about applying NATURE'S TEARS®, or about dry eye in general, we invite you to e-mail either the Founder, Sharon Kleyne, or our Medical Coordinator, Dr. Stephen Gugenheim. Contact them at: sharon@1dryair.com or drsteve@1dryair.com.
Visit the symposium here
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Bio Med Wash® First Aid
BIO MED WASH® is a sterile, heavy mist containing 100% Bio-Logic Aqua®, an all-natural, pH correct, pure tissue-culture grade of water. The application is helpful in removing particulate matter and crusted exudate from cuts and abrasions, and in removing irritating chemicals from skin and eyes.
* Emergency first aid eye wash and irrigation
* All-natural biocompatible hydrotherapy product replaces distilled, saline and tap water for most applications
* Unique bag-in-can pressure spray for added safety and sterility
* Washes dirt and other contaminants from cuts and lacerations
* Helps remove irritating chemicals from eyes and skin
* Ingredient: Bio-Logic Aqua® tissue-culture grade of water
With BIO MED WASH, Bio-Logic Aqua Technologies introduces the concept of an all-natural sterile wash for wound management and emergency professionals. For agencies that handle or sell irritating chemicals such as pepper spray or tear gas, BIO MED WASH could reduce liability and expand the capacity to cope with emergency situations.
* Emergency first aid eye wash and irrigation
* All-natural biocompatible hydrotherapy product replaces distilled, saline and tap water for most applications
* Unique bag-in-can pressure spray for added safety and sterility
* Washes dirt and other contaminants from cuts and lacerations
* Helps remove irritating chemicals from eyes and skin
* Ingredient: Bio-Logic Aqua® tissue-culture grade of water
With BIO MED WASH, Bio-Logic Aqua Technologies introduces the concept of an all-natural sterile wash for wound management and emergency professionals. For agencies that handle or sell irritating chemicals such as pepper spray or tear gas, BIO MED WASH could reduce liability and expand the capacity to cope with emergency situations.
The Mission of the Research Center and this Blog
Here is a blurb about the center's mission from the Bio-Logic Aqua website:
"It's never been done before!
Bio-Logic Aqua Technologies Biomedical Research is the only company, worldwide, to specialize in all-natural tissue culture grade water and hydrotherapy for pharmaceutical application. The company has conducted this groundbreaking research for well over a decade and is committed to a two-fold objective:
1. Understanding the medical benefits of the company's rare Bio-Logic Aqua® Absolute Premium Standard™ tissue-culture grade of water
2. Developing applications of the water for the benefit of human health in an increasingly dry and polluted environment".
This Blog started out as a center for eye health education and that continues to be its main purpose. The only change I have made is the name of the blog, from "Dry Eyes and You" to "Bio-Logic Aqua Technologies Biomedical Research". I am going to try to bring more research developments to the attention of our consumers so they can be better educated about our products. Hopefully you will find this information helpful in making healthy choices in your personal environment.
Thank you for your continued interest. :)
"It's never been done before!
Bio-Logic Aqua Technologies Biomedical Research is the only company, worldwide, to specialize in all-natural tissue culture grade water and hydrotherapy for pharmaceutical application. The company has conducted this groundbreaking research for well over a decade and is committed to a two-fold objective:
1. Understanding the medical benefits of the company's rare Bio-Logic Aqua® Absolute Premium Standard™ tissue-culture grade of water
2. Developing applications of the water for the benefit of human health in an increasingly dry and polluted environment".
This Blog started out as a center for eye health education and that continues to be its main purpose. The only change I have made is the name of the blog, from "Dry Eyes and You" to "Bio-Logic Aqua Technologies Biomedical Research". I am going to try to bring more research developments to the attention of our consumers so they can be better educated about our products. Hopefully you will find this information helpful in making healthy choices in your personal environment.
Thank you for your continued interest. :)
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Eye Twitching or Blepharospasm
Eye Twitching, or Blepharospasm, is involuntary eyelid twitching. It is also referred to as an eye muscle spasm. The term blepharospasm really applies to any abnormal blinking or involuntary eye twitching of the eyelids caused by uncontrolled contractions of the muscles around the eyelids.
Sometimes people experience the twitching under the eye and others may experience the twitching in their right eye or twitching in their left eye. In simple terms it is a blinking disorder. One type of blepharospasm, Benign Essential Blepharospasm or BEB is a blinking disorder that is not life threatening and has an unknown causes. Other types of blepharospasm may be associated with dry eyes, Tourette’s Syndrome or other neurological problems and may be more serious. In general, patients experiencing blepharospasm have normal eyes and any disturbance in their vision is due to the forced closure of the eyelids. BEB should not be confused with ptosis, or a drooping of the eyelids that may be caused by a weakness or paralysis of the muscle in the upper eyelid. Minor eye twitches usually do not worsen. If they do worsen or persist, it is important to seek the advice of an eye care professional.
Blepharospasm usually starts with abnormal or excessive blinking that is accompanied by general eye irritation. Early on, the excessive blinking may only occur as a result of being exposed to bright lights, being tired or if you are under a great deal of stress. The frequency of the eye spasms may increase throughout the day. Sometimes the eye spasm may resolve during sleep and not even occur after a sound night’s sleep until you have been awake for many hours. As the condition worsens, the spasms tend to get stronger and may result in the eyelids being tightly shut for a few hours at time making it impossible for the person to see.
Eye Twitching, for most people, is just annoying, involuntary eye muscles spasm surrounding the eye that go away over time. The spasms usually occur a few times and come back. Spasms that cause twitching on one side of the face are known as hemifacial spasms. These are typically due to some form of irritation to the facial nerve This type of spasm requires visiting your family doctor who may refer you to a neurologist or an eye care professional, in order to determine the cause and what treatment might be appropriate. If your eye is twitching, then you should read about how to stop eye from twitching.
Read original article here.
Sometimes people experience the twitching under the eye and others may experience the twitching in their right eye or twitching in their left eye. In simple terms it is a blinking disorder. One type of blepharospasm, Benign Essential Blepharospasm or BEB is a blinking disorder that is not life threatening and has an unknown causes. Other types of blepharospasm may be associated with dry eyes, Tourette’s Syndrome or other neurological problems and may be more serious. In general, patients experiencing blepharospasm have normal eyes and any disturbance in their vision is due to the forced closure of the eyelids. BEB should not be confused with ptosis, or a drooping of the eyelids that may be caused by a weakness or paralysis of the muscle in the upper eyelid. Minor eye twitches usually do not worsen. If they do worsen or persist, it is important to seek the advice of an eye care professional.
Blepharospasm usually starts with abnormal or excessive blinking that is accompanied by general eye irritation. Early on, the excessive blinking may only occur as a result of being exposed to bright lights, being tired or if you are under a great deal of stress. The frequency of the eye spasms may increase throughout the day. Sometimes the eye spasm may resolve during sleep and not even occur after a sound night’s sleep until you have been awake for many hours. As the condition worsens, the spasms tend to get stronger and may result in the eyelids being tightly shut for a few hours at time making it impossible for the person to see.
Eye Twitching, for most people, is just annoying, involuntary eye muscles spasm surrounding the eye that go away over time. The spasms usually occur a few times and come back. Spasms that cause twitching on one side of the face are known as hemifacial spasms. These are typically due to some form of irritation to the facial nerve This type of spasm requires visiting your family doctor who may refer you to a neurologist or an eye care professional, in order to determine the cause and what treatment might be appropriate. If your eye is twitching, then you should read about how to stop eye from twitching.
Read original article here.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Eye Exercises Help Patients Work Out Vision Problems, Optometrist Says
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2009) — You've probably been there. In a doctor's office, being advised to do what you dread – exercise. You get that feeling in your gut, acknowledging that, indeed, you should exercise but probably won't. Now imagine that the doctor is your optometrist.
Don't clean your glasses. You read that right. Eye exercises are used to treat a variety of vision disorders, according to Dr. Janice Wensveen, clinical associate professor at the University of Houston's College of Optometry.
Patient reactions to this quite common prescription range between surprise and relief, she said, but doing the therapy can improve their performance at school and work.
"They're curious, especially when we tell them, instead of putting a Band-Aid on it like we do with glasses or contact lenses, we're actually going to solve your problem. You're going to be cured, and that's something we don't very often do," she said.
The standard at-home prescription is known as "pencil push-up therapy," said Wensveen, who practices at the University Eye Institute's Vision Therapy Clinic in the Family Practice Service.
"Patients visually follow a small letter on a pencil as they moved the pencil closer to the nose. The goal is to be able to keep the letter clear and single until it touches your nose."
Not surprisingly, she said, many patients don't follow through once they're out the door.
"You can imagine that, in the doctor's office, it sounds great, and you can do it. You think, 'Wow, this can help me?' But you get home, and you do it. You think, 'This is really dumb.' You do it once, and you never do it again," she said.
In fact, a study released in the fall by the National Eye Institute (NEI) found that office-based treatment for patients with a common eye muscle coordination disorder, along with at-home reinforcement, is more effective than home-based programs in isolation. The research, reported in the Archives of Ophthalmology, involved more than 200 young people with a condition known as convergence insufficiency, which Wensveen said likely affects between 5 percent and 20 percent of the population, depending on the definition used and the age group studied.
"As the name implies, it's somebody who can't cross their eyes, and you might think that's a weird thing to have to be able to do. But, if you just consider the geometry of looking up close, your two eyes do have to turn in so that they're both pointing at the thing that you want to see," Wensveen said.
Left unattended, Wensveen said, convergence insufficiency can affect a student's performance in school, because reading can become very frustrating.
"These are the kids who would rather do anything but sit down and do their work," she said. "And I think that's why kids especially who have convergence insufficiency are sometimes mislabeled as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, because they just don't want to sit down."
While most eye care professionals treat convergence insufficiency using only home-based therapy, the NEI results indicated approximately 75 percent of patients treated both in the office and at home reported fewer and less severe symptoms related to reading and other close-up work. Symptoms of convergence insufficiency include loss of place and concentration while reading, reading slowly, eyestrain, headaches, blurry vision and double vision.
"Studies would suggest there is a possible relationship between convergence insufficiency and ADHD, in that about 10 percent of patients with convergence insufficiency had a history of ADHD at initial presentation or in follow-up exams," said Dr. Nick Holdeman, executive director of the University Eye Institute. "While the research does not support a direct relationship between the two diagnoses, it is recommended that evaluation of convergence insufficiency should be undertaken in children diagnosed with ADHD."
Wensveen said the research results underscore that patients, or the parents of patients, advised to conduct eye exercises should seriously consider in-office vision therapy to get the results they desire.
"It's like using a physical trainer or a physical therapist. We will work with you to ensure that you do make progress toward being able to use your eyes comfortably and efficiently," she said.
Don't clean your glasses. You read that right. Eye exercises are used to treat a variety of vision disorders, according to Dr. Janice Wensveen, clinical associate professor at the University of Houston's College of Optometry.
Patient reactions to this quite common prescription range between surprise and relief, she said, but doing the therapy can improve their performance at school and work.
"They're curious, especially when we tell them, instead of putting a Band-Aid on it like we do with glasses or contact lenses, we're actually going to solve your problem. You're going to be cured, and that's something we don't very often do," she said.
The standard at-home prescription is known as "pencil push-up therapy," said Wensveen, who practices at the University Eye Institute's Vision Therapy Clinic in the Family Practice Service.
"Patients visually follow a small letter on a pencil as they moved the pencil closer to the nose. The goal is to be able to keep the letter clear and single until it touches your nose."
Not surprisingly, she said, many patients don't follow through once they're out the door.
"You can imagine that, in the doctor's office, it sounds great, and you can do it. You think, 'Wow, this can help me?' But you get home, and you do it. You think, 'This is really dumb.' You do it once, and you never do it again," she said.
In fact, a study released in the fall by the National Eye Institute (NEI) found that office-based treatment for patients with a common eye muscle coordination disorder, along with at-home reinforcement, is more effective than home-based programs in isolation. The research, reported in the Archives of Ophthalmology, involved more than 200 young people with a condition known as convergence insufficiency, which Wensveen said likely affects between 5 percent and 20 percent of the population, depending on the definition used and the age group studied.
"As the name implies, it's somebody who can't cross their eyes, and you might think that's a weird thing to have to be able to do. But, if you just consider the geometry of looking up close, your two eyes do have to turn in so that they're both pointing at the thing that you want to see," Wensveen said.
Left unattended, Wensveen said, convergence insufficiency can affect a student's performance in school, because reading can become very frustrating.
"These are the kids who would rather do anything but sit down and do their work," she said. "And I think that's why kids especially who have convergence insufficiency are sometimes mislabeled as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, because they just don't want to sit down."
While most eye care professionals treat convergence insufficiency using only home-based therapy, the NEI results indicated approximately 75 percent of patients treated both in the office and at home reported fewer and less severe symptoms related to reading and other close-up work. Symptoms of convergence insufficiency include loss of place and concentration while reading, reading slowly, eyestrain, headaches, blurry vision and double vision.
"Studies would suggest there is a possible relationship between convergence insufficiency and ADHD, in that about 10 percent of patients with convergence insufficiency had a history of ADHD at initial presentation or in follow-up exams," said Dr. Nick Holdeman, executive director of the University Eye Institute. "While the research does not support a direct relationship between the two diagnoses, it is recommended that evaluation of convergence insufficiency should be undertaken in children diagnosed with ADHD."
Wensveen said the research results underscore that patients, or the parents of patients, advised to conduct eye exercises should seriously consider in-office vision therapy to get the results they desire.
"It's like using a physical trainer or a physical therapist. We will work with you to ensure that you do make progress toward being able to use your eyes comfortably and efficiently," she said.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Can B Vitamins Lower Risk of Blindness?
Taking a Combination of Vitamins B6, B12, and Folic Acid May Lower Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Feb. 23, 2009 -- Taking a combination of B vitamins may offer a rare and inexpensive opportunity to help prevent the most common cause of blindness in older Americans, age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
A new study shows that women who took vitamins B6 and B12 along with folic acid had a 34% lower risk of any AMD and a 41% lower risk of AMD with significant vision loss.
Researchers say treatments for AMD are limited to people in the later stages of the disease.
“For the large population with early or no AMD, there is no method of disease prevention other than avoidance of cigarette smoking,” write researcher William Christen, ScD of Harvard Medical School and colleagues in the Archives of Internal Medicine. “From a public health perspective, this is particularly important because persons with early AMD are at increased risk of developing advanced AMD, the leading cause of severe, irreversible vision loss in older Americans.”
Vitamin Combo Curbs Macular Degeneration
In the study, researchers randomly assigned more than 5,000 women over 40 without signs of age-related macular degeneration to take a combination of 2.5 milligrams of folic acid, 50 milligrams of vitamin B6, and one milligram of vitamin B12 or a placebo every day. The women were part of a trial looking at the use of these vitamins and cardiovascular disease. The women had heart disease or at least three risk factors for heart disease at the start of the study.
During about seven years of follow-up, 137 new cases of age-related macular degeneration were diagnosed, including 70 that resulted in significant vision loss.
The results showed that women taking the B vitamin supplements had a 34% lower risk of any AMD and a 41% lower risk of AMD with vision loss than the placebo group.
Researchers say the benefits of the vitamin combination in preventing AMD appeared to emerge about two years after treatment began.
"The trial findings ... are the strongest evidence to date in support of a possible beneficial effect of folic acid and B vitamin supplements in AMD prevention,” the researchers write. They note that further research is necessary in other groups of people to confirm their findings.
Read Article
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Feb. 23, 2009 -- Taking a combination of B vitamins may offer a rare and inexpensive opportunity to help prevent the most common cause of blindness in older Americans, age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
A new study shows that women who took vitamins B6 and B12 along with folic acid had a 34% lower risk of any AMD and a 41% lower risk of AMD with significant vision loss.
Researchers say treatments for AMD are limited to people in the later stages of the disease.
“For the large population with early or no AMD, there is no method of disease prevention other than avoidance of cigarette smoking,” write researcher William Christen, ScD of Harvard Medical School and colleagues in the Archives of Internal Medicine. “From a public health perspective, this is particularly important because persons with early AMD are at increased risk of developing advanced AMD, the leading cause of severe, irreversible vision loss in older Americans.”
Vitamin Combo Curbs Macular Degeneration
In the study, researchers randomly assigned more than 5,000 women over 40 without signs of age-related macular degeneration to take a combination of 2.5 milligrams of folic acid, 50 milligrams of vitamin B6, and one milligram of vitamin B12 or a placebo every day. The women were part of a trial looking at the use of these vitamins and cardiovascular disease. The women had heart disease or at least three risk factors for heart disease at the start of the study.
During about seven years of follow-up, 137 new cases of age-related macular degeneration were diagnosed, including 70 that resulted in significant vision loss.
The results showed that women taking the B vitamin supplements had a 34% lower risk of any AMD and a 41% lower risk of AMD with vision loss than the placebo group.
Researchers say the benefits of the vitamin combination in preventing AMD appeared to emerge about two years after treatment began.
"The trial findings ... are the strongest evidence to date in support of a possible beneficial effect of folic acid and B vitamin supplements in AMD prevention,” the researchers write. They note that further research is necessary in other groups of people to confirm their findings.
Read Article
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