Ophthalmic & physiological optics : the journal of the British College of Ophthalmic Opticians (Optometrists)
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Ophthalmic Physiol Opt · Oct 1994
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialDouble-masked placebo-controlled trial of precision spectral filters in children who use coloured overlays.
We selected 68 children who reported benefit from individually chosen sheets of coloured plastic placed upon the page when reading, and who used these regularly without prompting. These children viewed text illuminated by coloured light in an apparatus that allowed the separate manipulation of hue (colour) and saturation (depth of colour), at constant luminance. Many of the children reported improvements in perception when the light had a chromaticity within a limited range, which was different for each individual. ⋯ The children kept diaries (36 completed) recording symptoms of eye-strain and headache. The children and those responsible for their assessment were unable reliably to distinguish 'experimental' from 'control' lenses. Nevertheless, symptoms were less frequent on days when the 'experimental' lenses were worn (P < 0.003).
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Ophthalmic Physiol Opt · Jan 1993
Biography Historical ArticleVision of the famous: the artist's eye.
This article reviews the possible effects of various acquired or inherited eye disorders on the paintings and sculptures of some of the most famous artists. Were Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo and Monet affected by age-related eye disease which influenced their later works? Was El Greco's oblique elongation of his characters due to astigmatism? Was Constable a colour-defective? Was the Impressionist style of painting due to the myopia and cataract of its leading components? Are van Gogh's yellow and haloed paintings due to the ocular side effects of digitalis toxicity? These questions are discussed and some of the artists' works are shown to illustrate the points.
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Ophthalmic Physiol Opt · Jan 1991
Referrals for suspected glaucoma: an International Glaucoma Association survey.
In a survey covering 275,600 eye examinations by optometrists, 0.55% resulted in a referral to a medical practitioner for suspected glaucoma. Some 85-90% of the referred patients subsequently attended for examination by a consultant ophthalmologist. Of these, rather more than a third were confirmed as having glaucoma, almost a third were discharged as not having the disease, and the diagnosis was borderline for the remainder. The survey's results imply that optometrists detect about 20,000 cases of glaucoma in England and Wales each year.
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Ophthalmic Physiol Opt · Apr 1989
Contrast sensitivity with contact lens corrections for presbyopia.
We measured contrast sensitivity at three distances (330 mm, 660 mm and 4 m) with six contact lens and two multifocal spectacle corrections for presbyopia. The two spectacle corrections were D-segment bifocals and trifocals and the contact lens corrections were distance contact lens with lookover spectacles, soft progressive bifocals, soft concentric bifocals, monovision, modified monovision, and hard crescent segment bifocals. ⋯ Distance contact lenses with lookover spectacles performed best of the contact lens corrections used. However, the differences in CSF between the various contact lens corrections were small and not statistically significant.
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1031 British optometrists completed a questionnaire to give information on their rates of referral and notification to the medical profession. Data were collected in relation to the conditions concerned, the age and sex of the patient, and the spectacle correction. Major causes of referral were cataract, glaucoma, fundus changes, headaches/migraine/eye pain and lowered visual acuity; 6.5% of all patients seen were referred to their general medical practitioner notified, and of this group it was estimated that 25-30% could have managed with reading glasses which comprised spherical lenses of equal power. If such glasses could be self-selected, without reference to a medical practitioner or optometrist, a significant number of people would not benefit from the health screening aspects of the eye examination.