Digital Reading with Low Vision: Principles for Selecting Display Size.

Significance: Digital reading devices have become increasingly popular among people with low vision. Because displays come in many sizes ranging from smart watches to large desktop computer displays, it is important to have principles to guide people with low vision in selecting suitable displays for reading.

Purpose: The selection of effective digital displays for reading by people with low vision focuses attention on the interacting effects of print size, display size, font, visual acuity, and reading distance.

Stickler Syndrome (SS): Laser Prophylaxis for Retinal Detachment (Modified Ora Secunda Cerclage, OSC/SS).

Purpose: To introduce a novel technique of encircling laser prophylaxis (ora secunda cerclage Stickler syndrome, OSC/SS) to prevent rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) in Stickler syndrome eyes.

Patients And Methods: After first eye RRD at age 50 and at age 18, respectively, a 53-year-old father and his 22-year-old son with type 2 SS (STL2) gave informed consent and underwent OSC/SS prophylaxis, performed in each fellow eye. A 26-year-old STL2 daughter then suffered first eye retinal detachment and similarly chose fellow eye OSC/SS prophylaxis.

Effect of fluocinolone acetonide 0.2 μg/day implant on the decision to drive in patients with diabetic macular oedema: a report from the FAME study.

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether treatment with the 0.2 µg/day fluocinolone acetone implant (FAc; ILUVIEN, Alimera Sciences) and the associated improvements in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central subfield thickness (CST) demonstrated in the Fluocinolone Acetonide in Diabetic Macular Edema (FAME) study have an impact on the patient's decision to drive as measured by the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire-25 (NEI-VFQ-25).

Methods: This was a post hoc analysis of up to 3 years of NEI-VFQ-25 data collected during the phase III FAME trial.

Depth Perception and Grasp in Central Field Loss.

Purpose: We set out to determine whether individuals with central field loss benefit from using two eyes to perform a grasping task. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that this advantage is correlated with coarse stereopsis, in addition to binocular summation indices of visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, and binocular visual field.

Methods: Sixteen participants with macular degeneration and nine age-matched controls placed pegs on a pegboard, while their eye and hand movements were recorded.

SKread predicts handwriting performance in patients with low vision.

Objective: To assess whether performance on the Smith-Kettlewell Reading (SKread) test is a reliable predictor of handwriting performance in patients with low vision.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants: Sixty-six patients at their initial low-vision rehabilitation evaluation.

Random word recognition chart helps scotoma assessment in low vision.

Purpose: To evaluate the use of SKread, a vision test based on random word sequences that prevents the prediction of upcoming words by linguistic criteria and is simple to score in a clinical setting.

Methods: SKread combines the standardized format of the MNread test with sequences of random words and letters like the Pepper Visual Skills for Reading test. A total of 231 subjects (aged 16 to 97 years) participated.

Visual ability of patients seeking outpatient low vision services in the United States.

Importance: Most patients with low vision are elderly and have functional limitations from other health problems that could add to the functional limitations caused by their visual impairments.

Objective: To identify factors that contribute to visual ability measures in patients who present for outpatient low vision rehabilitation (LVR) services.

Design, Setting, And Participants: As part of a prospective, observational study of new patients seeking outpatient LVR, 779 patients from 28 clinical centers in the United States were enrolled in the Low Vision Rehabilitation Outcomes Study (LVROS) from April 25, 2008, through May 2, 2011.

Patient awareness of binocular central scotoma in age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To assess whether age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients are aware of binocular central visual field defects.

Methods: One hundred fifty-three consecutive AMD patients in their initial low-vision rehabilitation evaluation were immediately asked at the beginning of their visit (1) whether they were able to see any blind spots or defects in their field of vision and (2) whether they had any evidence or experiences that led them to believe that they had defects in their field of vision. They then had their vision assessed by binocular central visual field testing using the California Central Visual Field Test, binocular reading performance evaluated using the Smith-Kettlewell Reading Test (SK Read) and MN Read charts, and visual acuity measured using the ETDRS chart at 1 meter.

Target search and identification performance in low vision patients.

Purpose: To introduce a novel approach to topographic function assessment in visual impairment that requires neither fixation nor reading.

Methods: One hundred thirty-five consecutive low vision patients with varying diagnoses and 30 control subjects of comparable median age participated. Performance was measured in a search task that required finding and identifying visual targets which appeared consecutively on a monitor in 32 locations of the central field of gaze.

Cognitive appraisals, distress and disability among persons in low vision rehabilitation.

Objective: Examined cognitive appraisals of interference and tolerance in the prediction of distress and self-reported disability among persons presenting for low vision rehabilitation.

Design: Cross-sectional; correlational and path analyses.

Methods: One-hundred and thirteen patients (mean age, 71 years; 52 men and 61 women) presenting for low vision rehabilitation at a university-based centre for low vision rehabilitation participated in an initial clinical vision examination and completed several questionnaires to evaluate cognitive appraisals, emotional distress and self-reported disability.

Contrast sensitivity and visual hallucinations in patients referred to a low vision rehabilitation clinic.

Contrast sensitivity and visual hallucinations have significant consequences for the patient

Visual function in patients with choroidal neovascularization resulting from age-related macular degeneration: the importance of looking beyond visual acuity.

Purpose: A detailed understanding of overall quality of vision may help primary care physicians, optometrists, and general ophthalmologists to improve the care of patients with choroidal neovascularization (CNV) resulting from age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: Published literature was reviewed using Medline searches and the authors' knowledge of the field.

Results: Both visual acuity and contrast sensitivity are strongly associated with the ability to perform vision-related activities of daily living.

Counseling and rehabilitation.

Counseling is an art learned over a lifetime, from other physicians during formal training and from one's personal counseling experiences. The effort to develop this art will be greatly appreciated and richly awarded with personal satisfaction. The importance of counseling and rehabilitation for the ocular trauma victim is in treating the whole patient, not only the injured eye.