Blog Posts

Moorfields team develop ‘prediction calculator’ for keratoconus

A Moorfields and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology team led by Daniel Gore have developed a ‘prediction calculator’ to give keratoconus patients a personalised risk calculation to make informed decisions about treatment.

Keratoconus is a condition that causes the cornea to thin and impair vision. It is one of the most common reasons for corneal transplants in younger patients, and usually presents itself in their early teens. While milder cases can be managed by contact lenses or glasses, in more advanced cases a corneal transplant may be required to restore vision. A treatment called corneal cross-linking (CXL) is able to effectively stop disease progression, but is not always suitable.

The calculator creates a unique graph for each eye of each patient based on their individual risk factors to assess their likely prognosis, helping both clinicians and patients to decide when and if to proceed with CXL. This calculator is part of a wider project to offer more personalised management plans to patients to improve outcomes.

Read the full article on the Moorfields website

West Midlands Meeting

Our next meeting will be held on
Saturday 25th March 2023 at 11:00am

at The Priory Rooms, 
40 Bull Street, Birmingham,
B4 6AF

(See https://www.theprioryrooms.co.uk. for more details of location and please note there is no parking at the venue but it is a short walk from New Street Station)

Understanding & Improving KC Vision
Dr Trusit Dave
(PhD, BSc(Hons), MCOptom, FAAO, MBCLA)

Dr Dave’s presentation at last year’s National Conference was a superb
explanation of KC, the problems we have with night vision and what can be
done to improve it. Here is the opportunity to revisit the topic and ask your
follow-up questions with this Coventry-based Optometrist.
All welcome, this should be especially helpful to newcomers.

For further details please ring John Thatcher on 01743 625138

KC Coffee Morning on Zoom

The Next Meeting – Saturday 21st January 2023 at 11:00am

Our Coffee mornings provide a good opportunity for those newly diagnosed to meet seasoned travelers and discuss all things KC. Anyone with an interest in Keratoconus is free to join us.

To take part, simply send an email to Chair@kcgroup.org.uk to request a link.

Please join us to discuss all things KC. We are totally open with no pre planned agenda. Ours is a truly bottom up organisation run by members, all of whom have KC or a close connection. There are no silly questions. If you are thinking it, then there is sure to be someone else with a similar idea.

We hope to see you then.

Eye health experts seek to refresh eye research priorities

Eye experts across the UK are calling for your input into a new survey designed to refresh the James Lind Alliance Sight Loss and Vision research priorities that were first published in 2013.Despite on-going eye research taking place across the world, there are still many questions about the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sight loss and eye conditions that remain unanswered. Funding for research is limited, so it is important for research funders to understand the unanswered questions of greatest importance to patients, relatives, carers and eye health professionals so that future research can be targeted accordingly.Following a review of the existing eye research priorities by the NIHR Ophthalmology Specialty group and the UK Clinical Eye Research Strategy earlier this year, a survey has been developed to help fine tune which of the 98 potential research questions should be taken forward as part of the refresh.Professor Rupert Bourne, NIHR National Specialty Lead for Ophthalmology said:“It’s almost 10 years since the UK last published its eye research priorities and progress has been made in learning more about each of those 12 key areas that were set at the time. This survey is designed to help us assess whether these are still the right priorities for us to be focusing our attention on, and to delve deeper into some of those, or whether there are new areas of eye research that we now need to make a priority.“We are encouraging all those with an interest in eye health and research to take part in the survey to help shape the direction of future eye research.” The Eye Research Priority survey is open to all eye healthcare professionals and researchers as well as patients, carers and members of the public to participate in; and will be open until 9 August 2022. The survey feedback will inform the final Top 10 updated priorities across different eye sub-specialties.

Genetic Research

Members will remember the talk given by Professor Alison Hardcastle at our AGM in 2019, updating us on her work as part of the Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). The talk was summarised in our Summer 2019 newsletter.

The authors from UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, Moorfields Eye Hospitaland many other institutions from around the world, have recently published a very significant paper outlining the results of their research to date.

The paper can be read here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-01784-0#MOESM9

KeraClub 2021

Keratoconus – Now and Beyond: This year, the 6th annual community event for people with keratoconus ‘KeraClub 2021’ was organised as a webinar. The Save Sight Institute and Keratoconus Australia co-hosted the webinar for people with keratoconus, their families, friends, and carers. The speakers were Professor Stephanie Watson, Associate Professor Mark Roth OAM, Mr Larry Kornhauser OAM, Ms Chloe Davies, and Dr Himal Kandel. The event was moderated by Ms Michelle Pritchard. The talks were followed by a panel discussion.

Talk by Howard Maile

At our previous Zoom coffee morning, we were treated to an excellent talk by Howard Mailes, a PhD candidate at UCL. He was talking about his research into using artificial intelligence to assist with the initial diagnosis of Keratoconus, and detecting progression.

Here is a recording of that talk.

The talk is also available on our Youtube channel. 

We hope you will find it interesting.

Bausch & Lomb – Recall

VOLUNTARY RECALL OF CERTAIN LOTS OF CONTACT LENS SOLUTIONS, EYE WASH AND EYE LUBRICANTS

 
No Known Safety Concerns Related to this Recall – This information has been coped from the Bausch & Lomb website. More information can be found on the Which Website. Also comments from our members about alternative products on our Discussion Forum. If in doubt, contact your optometrist.

Verify whether your product lot number is impacted

View a full list of products impacted in your country

Bausch + Lomb is conducting a voluntary recall of certain lots of Biotrue® contact lens solution, ReNu® MPS Multi-purpose solution sensitive eyes, ReNu® MultiPlus contact lens solution, Boston® cleaner, Boston® conditioning solution, Boston® Simplus Multi-Action contact lens solution, Sensitive Eyes® contact lens solution, EasySept® contact lens solution, Ophtaxia® eye wash solution, Sensitive Eyes® eye lubricant solution and associated private label brands that were manufactured at its facility in Milan, Italy. These lots are being recalled from consumers, pharmacies, eye care professionals, retailers, distributors and wholesalers.
 
This voluntary recall is being conducted in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Russia/CIS, Hong Kong and China, although the certain lots of Ophtaxia® eye wash solution are only applicable to France and Hong Kong, and Sensitive Eyes® eye lubricant solution to Hungary, Bulgaria and South Africa. Additionally, the only product being recalled in China is Boston® Simplus Multi-action contact lens solution.
 
This voluntary recall follows a notification received by Bausch + Lomb from one of its third-party suppliers in Milan, Italy, which sterilizes some components (bottles, plugs and caps) of these products prior to manufacturing in our facility in Milan, Italy, of a compliance issue with its sterilization process. Bausch + Lomb is one of many companies impacted by this situation.

The health and safety of everyone who uses our products is our utmost priority. While there is a low risk of infection with these products, Bausch + Lomb has chosen to voluntarily recall these certain lots  of products because we cannot confirm the supplier’s conformance to process compliance requirements for some of the components of these products. No serious adverse events have been reported to date in association with this issue.
 
No other Bausch + Lomb products or lots are affected by this recall.

Retailers, pharmacies, eye care professionals, distributors or wholesalers who have purchased products directly from Bausch + Lomb, please click here for more information. If the products were not purchased directly from Bausch + Lomb, customers are asked to contact their re-seller to return the product and discuss exchange or refund options.
 

Consumers who may have these affected products in their possession should take the following steps:

  1. Insert your product lot number below to verify if your product is impacted.
  2. If the product is impacted, stop using the product.
  3. Follow the instructions to register your product. 
  4. After following all instructions, discard the impacted product.

How to find my lot number
See below an example of the bottle and carton labels, which contain the lot number and expiration to easily identify the product. 

There is also a pdf listing all the products affected here.

In summary, the affected products are:

Biotrue® multi-purpose solution (60mL, 240mL, 300mL)
Biotrue® multi-purpose solution flight pack (60mL, 2 X 60mL)
Biotrue® multi-purpose solution (2 X 300mL, 4 X 300 mL)

ReNu® MPS multi-purpose solution sensitive eyes (60mL, 120mL, 240mL)
ReNu® MPS multi-purpose solution sensitive eyes flight pack (60mL, 2 X 60mL)
ReNu® MPS multi-purpose solution sensitive eyes (3 X 360mL, 4 X 240mL)
ReNu® MultiPlus multi-purpose solution fresh lens comfort (60mL, 240mL, 3 X 360mL, 4 X 240mL)

EasySept® contact lens solution (120mL, 360mL, 3 X 360mL)

Sensitive Eyes® contact lens solution plus Saline (500mL)FSCA Ref: CAC-2021-005

Boston® Multi Action Solution Special Flight Pack SIMPLUS (2 X 60mL)
Boston® SIMPLUS Multiaction Solution (120mL, 4 X 120mL)
Boston®/Boston® ADVANCE Cleaner (30mL & 4 X 30mL)
Boston®/Boston® ADVANCE Conditioning Solution (120mL & 4 X 120mL)
Boston® ADVANCE Cleaner Conditioning Solution Multipack (1 X 120mL + 1 X 30mL)
Boston® ADVANCE Cleaner Conditioning Solution Starter Kit ADVANCE FORMULA (1 X 30 mL + 1 X 10 mL)

Boots Pharmaceuticals Contact Lens Solution (240mL)
Boots Pharmaceuticals All in One Solution (60mL, 240mL, 360mL, 2x360ml)
Boots Pharmaceuticals Advanced Conditioning Solution (120mL)

Specsavers easyvision ultrapurpose MPS (60mL, 3 x 240mL)

Boots Pharmaceuticals Enhanced All in One Solution (360mL)
Boots Pharmaceuticals Advanced Cleaning Solution (30mL)
Boots Pharmaceuticals Advanced Cleaning and Conditioning Solutions (3 x 120ml + 3 x 30mL, 1 x 60ml + 1 x 15mL