Optician Rachel Hill-Campbell, owner of Personal Optical in St. Catharines, Ontario, was named 2012 Transitions Eyecare Professional of the Year at the recent Transitions Academy Awards ceremony.

 

Hill-Campbell was recognized for her outstanding efforts to promote eye health and the benefits of Transitions^® lenses in front of more than 1,100 optical professionals from North and South America at the awards ceremony held in Orlando, Florida.

 

“I hope to never hear my patients say that I neglected to tell them about a product or solution that could enhance their vision,” the Ontario optician said. “I always keep Transitions^® lens brochures handy so that my patients can review them with me or take them home.”

 

Transitions Optical will provide her with a $1,000 grant through the Transitions Healthy Sight for Life Fund. She will also receive awards for her staff, permission to use the Transitions ECP of the Year logo on internal and external communications, professional marketing and public relations support, as well as a trip to Transitions Optical head office in Tampa, Florida.

Source: Transitions Optical

 

New Look Eyewear has been named Transitions Retailer of the Year for Canada. New Look was recognized on January 29 at the 17^th annual Transitions Academy, in Orlando, Florida.

 

In an interview with ClipInfo.ca, the president of New Look Eyewear, Martial Gagné, described this achievement as “very good news,” seeing it as a great reward for the chain’s efforts to promote Transitions products. “Transitions lenses are products that add value and meet consumers’ needs,” he said. “They correspond perfectly to our mission, which is to work at improving and preserving the vision of our patients.”

 

During the ceremony, the business manager for Transitions Optical, Canada, Christine Underhill, emphasized New Look Eyewear’s merits. “With their inspiring education tactics and incredible passion for the Transitions family of products, New Look Eyewear was very deserving of the Transitions Retailer of the Year title,” she said. “We congratulate them for their success in 2012; thank them for serving as a strong Transitions partner and for their contributions in providing valuable eye health education.”

Sources: Transitions Optical and ClipInfo.ca

 

 

Researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia, report that taking aspirin over a long period of time increases the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

 

Researcher Gerald Liew and his team conducted a study which examined 2,389 participants over a period of 15 years. Ten percent of them were regular aspirin users. Study results showed that after 15 years, a quarter of the regular aspirin users had developed neovascular AMD. The rate of neovascular AMD was three times higher among users compared to the other patients. The researchers judged the risk to be “significant,” though they specified that more clinical evidence is needed before they would advise doctors to change how they prescribe aspirin.

 

When invited to comment on the study, George A. Diamond and Sanjay Kaul, of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said the study was interesting, but that its main limitation was its non-randomized design, which means that there was no control group. A randomized study generally allows you to limit the number of factors that could create confusion and distort the analysis. 

 

Aspirin is one of the most widely used drugs worldwide.

Source:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/255193.php

Light for the World, the Austrian organization that helps people who have no access to basic eye care, has received support in its fight against cataracts in Africa.

 

Bausch + Lomb and Croma Pharma donated 50,000 Yellox^TM (bromfenac sodium sesquihydrate) eye drops, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug that is essential for postoperative treatment of cataract extraction.

 

The eye drops only have to be used twice a day, which makes the after-treatment much easier in countries where medical care is hard to get, according to Dr. Karl Rigal, board member of Light for the World. “This is of real benefit to patients in developing countries,” he says.

 

“Proper post-operative care is the key to maximizing the surgery’s results – ultimately achieving the best possible outcome for the patient,” says Dr. Calvin Roberts, executive vice president and chief medical officer, Bausch + Lomb.

 

The president and CEO of Croma, Gerhard Prinz, says that “it is our social responsibility and commitment to support the improvement of vision in economically challenged regions of the world.”

Source:

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/bausch–lomb-et-croma-font-don-de-gouttes-ophtalmiques-requises-durgence-187958931.html

Brown-eyed individuals are perceived as being more trustworthy than blue-eyed ones, according to a recent study from the Charles University in Prague.

 

How did the researchers come to this astonishing conclusion? They showed 238 participants 80 photographs of young men and women with neutral expressions such as that seen in a Canadian passport picture. Participants were asked to rate the faces on over 248 factors related to trustworthiness, attractiveness and dominance. To control the impact of facial features, the researchers switched the eye colour in the photos and repeated the test procedure.

 

The findings showed that faces with brown eyes were perceived as being more trustworthy than those with blue eyes. However, study authors specified that it wasn’t the eye colour per se that caused this perception, “but rather the facial features associated with brown eyes.” People with brown eyes tend to have round faces with large mouths and chins, which are features linked to trustworthiness in men but – surprise again – not women!

 

Trustworthiness is no simple matter…

Source:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0053285#s1