A patient with age-related macular degeneration, has been the pioneer in receiving treatment with stem cells to try to restore her vision.

The operation was conducted in the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, this was the first treatment established in humans, and is a pilot study still without conclusive data,fruit of a collaboration between the Moorfields Eye Hospital, the London College of ophthalmologists and Pfizer laboratory as a sponsor.

The treatment consists of transplanting retinal pigment epithelium cells derived from stem cells, into patients with severe visual loss from wet age-related macular degeneration, these cells replace damaged cells in patients with wet AMD.

The surgery consists of inserting the stem cells in the macular area through an operation that usually takes between one and two hours.

There are a huge number of patients who can benefit from this type of therapy according to researcher Lyndon Da Cruz, MD who is conducting a pilot study with patients at Moorfields Eye Hospital, at the moment there are no final results since patients are following a protocol of revisions and the study has not been completed.

More than a dozen groups of researchers in the world are working in the world in this field with clinical trials in both pigs and humans and hopefully in the coming years we will have positive results.

However, these are clinical trials without conclusive results given that they are all in the early stages of the investigation.

In any case a door opens to hope for patients suffering from this visual impairment caused by a degenerative disease which is one of the most common causes of blindness in the developed world.

Source: Cataract&Refractive today Europa(AK Kashani,Science Translational Medicine,Vol.10,Issue 435,eaao-4097).

10,Issue 435,eaao-4097)

Practising sports can, in certain circumstances and sports, bring with it the possibility of suffering lesions and traumas to the eyes, particularly if you do it without the appropriate protection.

It is estimated that in Spain there are more than 13 million people who practise some sport regularly. In spite of the natural protection that the socket gives to the eye, in some circumstances, as in actions produced by the adversary or partner such as blows from the elbow, knee, foot, nails, fingers etc, or perhaps from objects thrown by the adversary such as balls, sticks, bats etc, eye injuries of lesser or greater severity can occur, from minor erosions or bruises of the eye to loss of the eyeball and secondary vision.

Evidently there are sports with more or less risk and the professionalism of the sportsperson and the standard of protection are key factors in the likelihood of suffering injury.

Using probabilities one can catalogue sports into low, high or very high risk categories as below:

1. Low risk sports eg. Running, swimming, gymnastics, cycling

2. High risk sports in which one uses balls, bats, racquet and in which the players make contact between each other. Amongst these we have: baseball, basketball, football, tennis, rugby, handball, hockey, fencing, squash, table-tennis.

3. Very high risk sports such as boxing. Free fighting, martial arts.

There are other types of eye injuries which occur in people who practise open air sports caused by exposure to ultraviolet rays in sports such as skiing, aquatic sports, cycling and open air racing.

Eye protection methods are various and specific for each sport. These can be :- a helmet with face mask, lenses made from 3mm thick policarbonate, glasses to protect from dust and ultraviolet radiation which try to create a protective micro-climate around the eyes: the grade of the seal of the lenses and frames can be very limited, as for running, with side panels for cycling, or a total seal for underwater sports or motor cycling. To all the previous statements one must add that glasses must have certain properties to protect from surrounding light, from impacts, and no less important that they should be correctly adjusted for one’s sight.

To resume, in my opinion the majority of eye injuries occur in non-professionals of any particular sport who practise this sport without adequate protection. It’s important to have a medical assessment by your family doctor or a specialist to know if the sport in question is suitable for you. An example of this would be to know that for someone who has myopia contact sports such as Karate, Kick-boxing, Free Fighting, would have added risk for your retina if you received a blow to the eye. Finally I would add that any loss of vision or eye pain after an impact is sufficient reason to see the Ophtalmologist

I a topic and a myth that is repeated daily consultation when the patient ask us: Doctor ……..I feel every day see worse, I´m oll day with the computer. Can I lose the vision?

The anser is NOT, don´t lose sight with use, the eyes are not like candles. the eyes are to use, when we read improves our brain capacity and avoid aging early.

The are several adverse circumustances, when we are facing the secreen date, among which are: the data screen offers images of a two dimensional, while the human eye is three-dimensional mode, so while the human eye are prepar for distance (>6 m),the screen is 60 cm, which causes the muscles eye are oll the time working, the end result when we have hours is blurred vision, tired eyes and even hedaches.

Another annoying symptom is dryness of eyes,in fact in normal circumstances blink about 18 times per minute and with the computer pass a average of 6 times,this makes that the eye drying not adequately lubricate which leads toitching sensation,burnimg,grittiness,etc.

As for the monitor screen, has been described”legend”such as the need to protect agains radiation come from the screen,although it not less true thar a simple waking by the street you will recive infinitely more radiation than the will be happen for several days the data screen.For all the above and following aphorism” if you can not beat your enemy join to him” the recommendation to take at home are:

1-We should take the rule 2-20,which means that every 2 hours,must rest 20 minutes looking further,the room have to an appropriate degree of humidity,graduation correct cooling an heating systems,lighting should be indirect and not intensif,preferably working with natural light,the light should come from the opposite hand is used to prevent shadows side.

2-Monitor,TFT tire must be less than a CRT type,should be about 60 cm away and below the eye line,the brightness of the monitor should be minimum with you find yourself more confortable,use of filters to the monitor screen is interesting,thoughgood monitor would be enough.

3-As regards the position of the seat to be ergonomic,adjustable height, also should be the soport back,there are a rule whichsays that the best position would be one that bendin theelbow this coincided with the keyboard and knuckles chin.

With this small article I hope I have got,give lightand remove fear the idea that the compuer use can be harmful to the eye health and to put in positive the excellence of its use in the field of information an make decisions, today it wont be possible to be concived without them.