Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic or therapeutic reasons. In 2010, the worldwide market for contact lenses was estimated at $6.1 billion, while the US soft lens market was estimated at $2.1 billion. Multiple analysts estimated that the global market for contact lenses would reach $11.7 billion by 2015. As of 2010, the average age of contact lens wearers globally was 31 years old, and two-thirds of wearers were female.
Keratoconus (KC) is a disorder of the eye that results in progressive thinning of the cornea. This may result in blurry vision, double vision, nearsightedness, irregular astigmatism, and light sensitivity leading to poor quality-of-life. Usually both eyes are affected. In more severe cases a scarring or a circle may be seen within the cornea.
The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber. Along with the anterior chamber and lens, the cornea refracts light, accounting for approximately two-thirds of the eye's total optical power. In humans, the refractive power of the cornea is approximately 43 dioptres. The cornea can be reshaped by surgical procedures such as LASIK.
LASIK or Lasik, commonly referred to as laser eye surgery or laser vision correction, is a type of refractive surgery for the correction of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. LASIK surgery is performed by an ophthalmologist who uses a femtosecond laser or a microkeratome to create a corneal flap to expose the corneal stroma and then an excimer laser to reshape the corneal stroma in order to improve visual acuity.
Jane Elliott is an American diversity educator. As a schoolteacher, she became known for her "Blue eyes/Brown eyes" exercise, which she first conducted with her third-grade class on April 5, 1968, the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The publication of compositions which the children had written about the experience in the local newspaper led to much broader media interest in it.
Dry eye syndrome, also known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca, is the condition of having dry eyes. Symptoms include dryness in the eye, irritation, redness, discharge, blurred vision, and easily fatigued eyes. Symptoms range from mild and occasional to severe and continuous. Dry eye syndrome can lead to blurred vision, instability of the tear film, increased risk of damage to the ocular surface such as scarring of the cornea, and changes in the eye including the neurosensory system.
Physical or chemical injuries of the eye can be a serious threat to vision if not treated appropriately and in a timely fashion. The most obvious presentation of ocular (eye) injuries is redness and pain of the affected eyes. This is not, however, universally true, as tiny metallic projectiles may cause neither symptom. Tiny metallic projectiles should be suspected when a patient reports metal on metal contact, such as with hammering a metal surface. Corneal foreign bodies are one of the most common preventable occupational hazards. Intraocular foreign bodies do not cause pain because of the lack of nerve endings in the vitreous humour and retina that can transmit pain sensations. As such, general or emergency department doctors should refer cases involving the posterior segment of the eye or intraocular foreign bodies to an ophthalmologist. Ideally, ointment would not be used when referring to an ophthalmologist, since it diminishes the ability to carry out a thorough eye examination.
Corneal transplantation, also known as corneal grafting, is a surgical procedure where a damaged or diseased cornea is replaced by donated corneal tissue. When the entire cornea is replaced it is known as penetrating keratoplasty and when only part of the cornea is replaced it is known as lamellar keratoplasty. Keratoplasty simply means surgery to the cornea. The graft is taken from a recently deceased individual with no known diseases or other factors that may affect the chance of survival of the donated tissue or the health of the recipient.
Naina is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language supernatural horror film directed by Shripal Morakhia and starring Urmila Matondkar as the titular character who loses her sight as a child, regains it as an adult with corneal transplantation and starts seeing images beyond the general surroundings. The film is an unofficial remake of the 2002 Hong Kong-Singaporean horror film The Eye directed by the Pang brothers, with a subplot borrowed from the 2002 Japanese film Dark Water.
Eye banks recover, prepare and deliver donated eyes for cornea transplants and research. The first successful cornea transplant was performed in 1905 and the first eye bank was founded in 1944. Currently, in the United States, eye banks provide tissue for over 80,000 cornea transplants each year to treat conditions such as keratoconus and corneal scarring. In some cases, the white of the eye (sclera) is used to surgically repair recipient eyes. Unlike other organs and tissues, corneas are in adequate supply for transplants in the United States, and excess tissue is exported internationally, where there are shortages in many countries, due to greater demand and a less-developed eye banking infrastructure.
The Eye, also known as Seeing Ghosts, is a 2002 supernatural horror film directed by the Pang brothers. The film spawned two sequels by the Pang brothers, The Eye 2 and The Eye 10. There are three remakes of this film, including Adhu, made in 2004 in Tamil, Naina made in 2005 in Hindi and The Eye, a 2008 Hollywood production starring Jessica Alba.
Corneal dystrophy is a group of rare hereditary disorders characterised by bilateral abnormal deposition of substances in the transparent front part of the eye called the cornea.
Lions Eye Bank is the designation given to the various non-profit eye banks operated by member chapters within the Lions Clubs International service organisation. The banks store and prepare donated corneas for transplantation. Corneas may be stored for up to fourteen days before being distributed to an ophthalmic surgeon for transplantation.
Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society is a non-governmental organization involved in donating human eyes and tissues for transplantation. It serves patients in need both in Sri Lanka and around the world. The society is a non-profit organization and provides the tissues free of charge, except for a small fee on processing and delivery.
Sheraz Daya is a British ophthalmologist. Daya founded the Centre for Sight in 1996, and works in stem-cell research and sight restoration and correction surgery.
Dua's layer, according to a 2013 paper by Harminder Singh Dua's group at the University of Nottingham, is a layer of the cornea that had not been detected previously. It is hypothetically 15 micrometres thick, the fourth caudal layer, and located between the corneal stroma and Descemet's membrane. Despite its thinness, the layer is very strong and impervious to air. It is strong enough to withstand up to 2 bars of pressure. While some scientists welcomed the announcement, other scientists cautioned that time was needed for other researchers to confirm the discovery and its significance. Others have met the claim "with incredulity".
Eye injuries during general anaesthesia are reasonably common if care is not taken to prevent them.
Limbal stem cells, also known as corneal epithelial stem cells, are unipotent stem cells located in the basal epithelial layer of the corneal limbus. They form the border between the cornea and the sclera. Characteristics of limbal stem cells include a slow turnover rate, high proliferative potential, clonogenicity, expression of stem cell markers, as well as the ability to regenerate the entire corneal epithelium. Limbal stem cell proliferation has the role of maintaining the cornea; for example, by replacing cells that are lost via tears. Additionally, these cells also prevent the conjunctival epithelial cells from migrating onto the surface of the cornea.
Keryn Anne Williams is an Australian medical scientist who works in the field of ophthalmology. She was a Principal Research Fellow in the School of Medicine at Flinders University. Her research interests include clinical and experimental corneal transplantation, ocular inflammation, ocular immunology and eye banking.
Caroline Marmon Fesler was an American art and music patron, cultural philanthropist, and fine-art collector. Her contributions to the Indianapolis, Indiana, arts community included financial support and gifts of fine art to the Art Association of Indianapolis, in addition to serving as a board member of Herron School of Art (1916–1947) and president of the Art Association of Indianapolis (1941–1947). Fesler was also a patron of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and founded the city's Ensemble Music Society. Her major art collecting interests and acquisitions tended toward Post-Impressionist and modernist paintings, although not exclusively, and included paintings by Georges Braque, Paul Cézanne, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Georgia O'Keeffe, Georges Seurat, and Vincent van Gogh, among others. The Marmon Memorial Collection, which Fesler established in honor of her parents, remains an important part of the Indianapolis Museum of Art's permanent collections.
