- Help patients keep their eyes on the ball—and safe from injury
- How to avert an eye care crisis
- Case study: Avoid blurring line between clinical practice and research in optometry
- As technology turns, sports vision optometrist pivots
- Vision-friendly holiday gifts for children
- What you say versus what they hear: Talking contact lenses
- Identify signs of abuse
- excercise may prevent eye diseases
- Tips for an eye-healthy Thanksgiving feast
- protecting patients eye summer
- Lutein zeaxanthin reaffirmed over beta-carotene in AREDS2
- Diabetes Alert Day
- Day of unplugging
- 2021 Telehealth Summit
- Performance evaluation
- wearing contacts safely during COVID-19
- Recharging the retina
- Vitamin A good for the eyes
- Children device use and Myopia
- Physical distancing masks and eye protection
- COVID-19 infection control refresher
- doctor google online symptom checkers
- COVID-19 digital eyestrain
- The many benefits of the Mediterranean Diet
- Spring Break Healthy Contact Lens Hygiene
- CPR Certification Heart Month
- healthy makeup habits
- checking blood pressure
- healthy eyes recipe-eye-friendly nutrients
- best holiday gifts for childrens vision development
- winter weather tips
- Great American Smokeout
- 5 things to ask your older patients about driving
- eating for your eyes
- Vision therapy reading scores
- secondhand smoke could harm childrens eyes
- AOA resources can help patients see with less daylight
- dark chocolate does not improve eyesight
- Pumpkin nutrition benefits
- Teenager loses vision after a steady diet of French fries
- Systolic versus diastolic readings blood pressure
- Increase fitting success with better communication
- Contact Lens Health Week
- Mixing systemic and ocular pediatric medications
- The wonderful healing properties of amniotic membranes
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- Smoking and Eye Health
- Novel contact lens design tracks IOP for continuous 24-hour period
- Blue-light hype or much ado about nothing
- Help Patients summer swimming
- Toys and games nice and naughty for vision development
- 21st-century optometric care
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- Vision is key to aging gracefully new study says
- How optometry can prevent serious harm from falls
- Help patients see the light when driving at night
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- prevent eye-related injuries from sports and recreation
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- autismeyes
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- Study underscores optometrys role in improving aging patients quality of life
- Wildfires and Ocular Health
- When driving becomes dangerous
- Blinded by video games
- Blue Light and Kids Sleep
- Kids and Devices
- Diabetes patients perspective
- Vapor Study
- Tea Study
- National Sunglasses Day
- How to examine patients with special needs
Examining eye structure may help detect early-stage Alzheimer’s disease
April 4, 2014
New research suggests variations in eye structure are linked to Alzheimer’s disease
According to new research, searching for variations in eye structure may help detect early-stage Alzheimer's disease. In the future, doctors of optometrys may have a role to play in early diagnosis.
Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute examined both animal models and postmortem human retinas from donors with Alzheimer's disease. Using high-resolution, microscopic imaging and visual acuity measurements, they were able to monitor tissue degeneration and decline in visual function. Both are strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease.
The researchers found abnormalities, including changes in the retinal pigment epithelial layer, which harbors supportive cells located in the back of the eye, and in the thickness of the choroidal layer, which has blood vessels that provide nutrients to the retina.
The greater the abnormality, the greater the chance of the patient having Alzheimer's disease, noted study co-author Alexander Ljubimov, Ph.D.
Doctors of optometry help identify chronic illnesses
Doctors of optometrys already play a critical role—through routine eye examinations—in identifying chronic illnesses in their patients, including diabetes, multiple sclerosis and cancer. Alzheimer's disease could one day be added to the list.
Currently, more than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, making it the 6th-leading cause of death in the United States, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
Lori Grover, O.D., Ph.D., the American Public Health Association's Vision Care Section (VCS) Council member, believes the new study presents the potential promise that, in the future, doctors of optometrys could gather important diagnostic and treatment information regarding Alzheimer's disease. Best of all, it could be done in a noninvasive fashion.
"Although it will take more research and time to find out if this promise is realized, it is exciting to think of the possibility of helping our patients with or at risk of Alzheimer's and their health care teams and their families earlier in the course of the disease," Dr. Grover says.
Alzheimer's can't be prevented or cured. However, early detection helps optimize medical treatment and allows patients to plan and make decisions for the future.