Marigold the miracle?

Is marigold the new miracle supplement for macular degeneration? A story from the United Kingdom has been stunning the world of macular degeneration lately, after a British man claimed that taking marigold extracts have pretty much cured him of age-related macular degeneration.


The British media has been hailing him as possibly the first person in the country to recover from the devastating condition that causes blindness.

Mr Harry Marsland, 73, is a retired optician and he had lost most of his sight in his right eye to AMD. He was even considering learning Braille, with his left eye also heading down the same route as his right.

After trying various treatments without success, he decided to try a vitamin supplement called Macushield, which contains mesozeaxanthin, derived from marigolds. He said he has since recovered 95 per cent of his sight in his left eye.

"It was in August my wife Nina picked up my magnifying glass and realised it was dusty,' he said. "She was the first to realise I no longer needed to use it.

"A few months later we were walking in the dark and I suddenly realised I was no longer holding on to my wife. It's miraculous, considering at one point I was literally blind in the dark.'

Click here and here to read more about this amazing story.

First human trials for stem cells?

Macular degeneration patients could soon become the world's first to benefit from a new transplant operation using embryonic stem cells. Scientists from an American biotechnology company has applied for a licence to begin clinical trial on those with macular degeneration. They are confident that it would be approved and the trials could start as soon as early next year.

Embryonic stem cells are stem cells derived from human embryos that are only a few days old. They are believed to have the ability to develop into any of the scores of specialised tissues of the body. The hope is that they could be used to repair the damaged organs and tissues of patients with a relatively simple transplant procedure. In the case of macular degeneration sufferers, repair the macula.

Scientists are optimistic, citing positive results from tests on animals. Transplants of the human cells into rats with macular degeneration resulted in a "100 per cent improvement" in vision with no side-effect.

For the complete story, click here.

Goodbye stilettos and slippers

Alexandra Hospital gerontologist Lydia Au treated some 30 MDS members to a very interesting talk last Saturday. She is an expert on falls amongst the elderly and gave us some good news and bad.

We learned, for example, that 1 out of 4 over 65-year-olds who have fallen and broken a hip, do not survive the first year after the fall. They generally die of infections. Women are more likely to break a hip, but they are also more likely to survive the experience! Therefore Dr Au recommends keeping up our calcium and Vitamin D levels to help retard osteoporosis.

Some factors that predispose to falls are intrinsic and not much can be done about them – the ageing process, for example, means that our balance, eyesight, hearing, blood circulation, etc. is not what it used to be. But many factors are extrinsic, and therefore controllable.

Paying attention to slippery floors, poor lighting, clutter, loose carpets is particularly important for those who have experience a fall. Because their chances of a second fall are greatly higher.

So what to look out for? Some factors are medical, like paying attention to the side-effects of drugs, monitoring blood pressure and glucose levels, avoiding rapid movements which might affect balance, and making sure that one wears the right type of shoes – avoid high heels, loose-fitting shoes, and especially open-heeled slippers.

Simple awareness, we learned, can help reduce the changes of a nasty fall. And those of us with MD – or any form of poor vision – are especially vulnerable.

MDS Talk - Low Vision and Falls

Speaker: Dr Lydia Au
Date: Nov 28, 2009 (Sat)
Time: 2 - 4pm

Venue: Seminar Room, Alexandra Hospital

With low vision as a result of macular degeneration, sufferers are more likely to have some difficulties navigating around previously-familiar spaces like homes and offices. While the occasional trips may just be a nuisance, serious falls, especially among the elderly, would be severe. In some instances, it could even be life threatening.

Alexandra Hospital's geriatrician Dr Lydia Au is an expert on falls among the elderly and has studied the problem that low vision people has with movements. She spoke during last year's AMD Awareness Week, and has now kindly agreed to share her work and expertise with MDS members.

Tips will also be shared on how to make little changes in your homes to make sure that it is as friendly to low-vision people as possible.

* All talks are free for MDS members. Non-members can sign up as members at the door for an annual fee of just $10.

** Space is limited, so please reserve your seats soon. Please register by calling Anne at 6238-7387 or e-mail Sharon at

Egg yolks to combat AMD

Regular egg yolk consumption may reduce the risk of dry, age-related macular degeneration by raising macular pigment concentrations, according to a report in the November issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study subjects were all older adults who were taking statins, and their low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol levels were unaffected even when they ate as many as four yolks per day.

"Two eggs per day is probably all that is needed to maximize blood levels of lutein and zeaxanthin as well as macular pigment optic density (MPOD) status," senior author Dr. Robert J. Nicolosi from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell told Reuters Health by email.

The 5-month study had 4 phases. As Dr. Nicolosi and his coauthors explain, a 4-week baseline phase was followed by a 5-week 2 yolks/day phase, then a 4-week washout phase, and finally a 5-week 4 yolks/day phase.

In the 52 participants (mean age, 69 years), serum lutein increased by an average of 16% after the 2-yolk phase and 24% after the 4-yolk phase compared to baseline, and serum zeaxanthin increased from baseline by 36% and 82% after the 2- and 4-yolk phases, respectively.

Macular pigment optic density increased significantly after both regimens (more so after the 4-yolk phase), but only among individuals with low baseline density values.

Serum HDL-cholesterol increased during both phases of the study, the researchers note, but there were no significant changes from baseline in total cholesterol, low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, or triglyceride levels.

"We are presently evaluating the effect of consuming 12 eggs/week for 1 year on the progression of dry age-related macular degeneration" in subjects with early- to mid-stage disease, the investigators write.

"Although this was only a 5-week study and the 1-year data are not ready for comment, it would seem to me that physicians could consider that those patients on statins, who have early stage age-related macular degeneration, could be prescribed 2 egg yolks per day," Dr. Nicolosi said.

He added, "Our evidence and those of others indicate that increases in blood levels of lutein and zeaxanthin and MPOD correlate well with risk for age-related macular degeneration. So the egg yolk appears to enhance the bioavailability of nutrients that have been shown to reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration, and at 2 egg yolks per day for individuals on statins, does not raise LDL and significantly raises HDL."

The disabled go high-tech

The Straits Times

Oct 6, 2009

Special devices let them lead more independent lives
By Tan Weizhen

MR KUA Cheng Hock, 55, carries or uses four gadgets on any given day, and is heavily dependent on them - just like any Singaporean, except that he is blind.


He has an iPhone: Its built-in Global Positioning System helps him to manoeuvre his way around. He also uses an application for using public transport. These are applications anyone can use, but once he turns on the touchscreen phone's accessibility function - a mode for the disabled - a voice reads out what he selects on the menus.

He also relies on a Braille notetaker, a newly bought Macintosh that he uses mainly to surf the Web, and an e-book reader.

Technology has become the great leveller for the disabled - as well as the non-profit groups that care for them - allowing them to venture into a world that was previously inaccessible. They are using specially tuned phones and gadgets, iPhone applications and video chats to achieve a measure of independence.

The Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped sees about 500 members a year using its assistive devices. The Singapore Association for the Deaf has also noted an increase in interest, with more than 1,400 members opting to try devices, out of its base of 5,600.

The Touch Silent Club set up a cyber centre in 2006 to cater to the emerging needs of the deaf, who have become much more tech-savvy, said the centre. It has 2,000 members who use the centre to search for jobs and prepare resumes.

'Apart from using their hearing aids, the deaf also tap the Internet and webcam to chat, and video call on their mobile phone,' said Mrs Wee Bee Hong, senior manager of the club.

The Assistive Technology Centre, set up in 2002 under the Society for the Physically Disabled, conducts between 100 and 115 new assessments each year of the gadgets that would be most helpful to an individual. It has 700 devices, a leap from the handful when it first started.

It is currently working with special schools such as the Rainbow Centre - Margaret Drive School to make devices that children can use to communicate, said the centre's director of technology, Ms Chia Woon Yee. Those who work with the disabled say that technology has become much more intuitive to use, and therefore valuable.

'Prices have also come down, making it more affordable,' said Mr Ando Yeo, executive director of the Singapore Association for the Deaf. One blind user, Mr Ng Choon Hwee, said specially made devices for the disabled used to cost twice as much as mainstream devices, which can be used now, with special software.

There are even computer tablets to help those with speech and brain impairments. They choose a symbol that represents what they want to communicate, and it is transformed into a sentence onscreen.

At the Apple App Store, a number of applications have been created for those with special needs. Besides those for the blind and deaf, there are applications for those with autism, dexterity problems and speech disorders. For example, iCommunicate helps autistic children to communicate, by letting them develop storyboards instead of text.

More than ever, the disabled are able to live and work like anyone else. Mr Ng works full time in a church office, using a computer with speech software and a Braille notetaker. Mr Kua uses his TranSGuide phone application to tell him when his bus is arriving.

'Now I do not need to rely on other people to look out for me, or go up every bus to ask the driver if it is my bus,' he said. 'Blind people are not restricted or helpless any more. In fact, many of us are becoming more social, getting on Facebook and also chatting using MSN or Skype.'

tanwz@sph.com.sg

Recipes recipes recipes

Alexandra Hospital's Ms Lock Poh Leng and Chef William Chan have very kindly agreed to share with our members the recipes for the three dishes they served up during the Cooking Demonstration on September 26.

Here are the three recipes:

1) Sweet Potato & Corn Cake
Serve: 10
Ingredients:
700g sweet potato, grated
150g sugar (healthier version: half the sugar, as sweet potatoes are naturally sweet)
300g coconut milk (healthier version: half the amt of coconut milk & replace with low fat milk for lower saturated fat)
30g tapioca flour
5 no egg yolk
2 no egg
½ cup corn
Mix all ingredients together
In a pre-heat skillet, spoon portion mixture and pan-fry till golden brown.


2) Fresh Fruits Smoothie

Serve: 4
Ingredients:
2 no kiwi - to cut into cubes
2 no mango - to cut into cubes
6 no strawberry - wedges
300g rockmelon balls
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons of soft sago
Handful of fresh mint leaves slices
Combine all ingredients and chill


3) Vegetable Pizza
Serve: 10
Ingredients A:
1 no green zucchini – sliced
1 no yellow zucchini – sliced
1 no broccoli – sliced
4 no yellow pimento – sliced
4 no red pimento – sliced
2 no green pimento – sliced
1 no carrot – sliced
150 g mushroom – sliced
100 g black olives
20 g herbs
1 tbsp shallot – minced
1 tsp garlic – minced
Other ingredients:
1 cup tomato pronto
1 cup mozzarella cheese
pinch salt & pepper
¼ cup olive oil
4 pcs pizza bread
Pre-sliced vegetables to required sizes

In a hot pan, sauté vegetables (Ingredients A) till cooked. Lightly grilled pizza bread, spread sautéed vegetables and tomato concasse around, finish with mozzarella cheese. Bake with pizza bread at 170 degrees for 10 mins.

Think and Eat Green and Yellow

In conjunction with the annual AMD Awareness Week, MDS held a talk on “Nutrition for AMD Eyes” on September 26. Over 70 members attended the event at the Alexandra Hospital, and five new members joined MDS.

Dr Kumari Neelam (below), registrar and senior research fellow at the Department of Ophthalmology at Alexandra Hospital gave us a very interesting overview of the important role that carotenoids play in maintaining healthy retinas.


Dr Kumari highlighted the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin as they are the most strongly associated with reduced risk of MD. These are obtained primarily from dark green, leafy vegetables such as spinach, collard greens, kale, mustard greens, and turnip greens. And of course our whole family of Asian green leafy vegetables, including kai lan, pak choy, choy sum, Chinse cabbage, and daun singkong (tapioca leaves).


Her presentation was full of useful information. Three interesting tips: First, to preserve nutrients, don’t soak fruits and veggies, wash under running water. Second, cut into small pieces, as this also releases the nutrients. Third, slightly cooked is better than raw, as this releases nutrients.

After the presentation, the members of the society had a special treat – the first cooking demonstration at an MDS event! As the MDS members crowded on the stage, Alexandra staffers, Ms Lock Poh Leng and Chef William Chan, magically produced three delicious dishes in front of our eyes. They were sweet potato and corn pancake; vegetarian pizza, and mixed fruit cocktail. They not only proved tasty, but are remarkably easy to prepare.


The cooking demonstration’s main message was s simple slogan which is both catchy and easy to remember: “Think and Eat Green and Yellow". Many thanks to Dr Kumari and Alexandra Hospital staffer Wahida binte Hussain for taking the trouble to arrange for the cooking demonstration. After Saturday’s session, none of our MDS members who attended will ever have an excuse for not eating plenty of fruits and vegetables!

The lifelong sentence

Speech by MDS President Sharon Siddique at the launch of the 2009 AMD Awareness Week.

Guest of Honour, Mr Heng Chee How, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Distinguished Guests, Friends,

MDS Singapore has around 100 members. One of our major milestones this year, as you have just heard, has been to join AMDAI – The AMD Alliance International. We also maintain an active website, and a blog, and organize around 10 events per year for our members.

I would like to spend the next few minutes getting personal. Being diagnosed with MD is a life-altering experience. It is physically painless, but emotionally devastating.

How do you describe it? During your waking hours you cannot forget that you have MD. It literally obscures your vision. The best way to have a normally sighted person empathize is to smear a dot (small or large) of Vaseline onto a pair of spectacles. You can see around it, but you can’t see through it. That is why people describe seeing with AMD as “I can see the stars, but not the moon”, or “I looked in the mirror, but I wasn’t there”. Magnification is useful for reading because increasing the size of the letters, decreases the relative size of your blindspot. At best it is annoying, at worst it is completely debilitating.

So suddenly our most important health care professionals become our ophthalmologists, and our optometrists. We take comfort in the fact that medical science is making great strides in new ways to patch us up, retard our vision loss, and we are all waiting for breakthrough cures.

But we also all know that MD is presently a lifelong sentence. So a patient-support group like ours is a life-support, an information disseminator, and a social network. We come from all religions, ethnic groups, and walks of life. MD does not discriminate.

While we are not fatalistic, we are realistic. We support an holistic approach to health. It is within our power to manage the risk factors as efficiently and diligently as possible. While we all recognize this in theory, how does one put this into practice?

We seek to keep our MDS programmes lively and informative. This afternoon at 2pm in this auditorium we will be having a talk on “Nutrition for AMD Eyes” by Dr Kumari Neelam, of AH Hospital. She has also organized a cooking demonstration for us. Most AMD diet tips are Western-based. We need to do more to translate good dietary habits into Asian cuisine. Come and join us if you can. You can become a member of MDS at the door, and our annual membership fee is only $10.

It now just remains for me to say a few words of thanks.

• To all the doctors and health care practitioners, who like Dr Kumari, have given of their very valuable Saturday afternoons to interact with us over the years. We are so grateful.

• I would also like to acknowledge our huge debt to AH for its generous support. This includes the use of AH facilities for our meetings. And most importantly, the AH staffers who have touched our lives through their concern, support, and many kindnesses.

• Here I would like to single out Prof Au Eong Kah Guan, our MDS advisor, without whom this patient support group would not have been formed.

• Prof Ajeet Wagle, who has so kindly included us in AH eye care activities. And most especially Alice HOW, who always finds answers to our questions and solutions to our problems. Last but certainly not least, I would like to acknowledge Mr Oon, who has always made himself available on Saturday afternoons to assist us with AV technical’s during our meetings. Thank you.

If given a choice, no one wants to become an AMD sufferer. But we are fortunate to have such an impressive support system, and AMD Week is an example of how our health care system works. We are indeed lucky to be living in Singapore.

Thank you.

AMD Vision Test

In a few days, it will be the start of the international Macular Degeneration Awareness Week. Next week, it is Singapore's annual AMD Awareness Week. Most Singaporeans have never heard of this sight-robbing disease and do not know the necessary steps that may help prevent the onset of this illness.

For starters, it is critical that those with AMD are aware that they are suffering from vision loss and seek medical help as soon as possible.

This online vision test, based on the Vernier Acuity Theory, is a simple and easy to use method to find out if your eyes are suffering from Macular Degeneration.

Click here to take the test!

Nutrition for AMD Eyes

Live cooking demonstration!

Join us for a talk and a live demonstration on healthy cooking for the eyes!

Dr Kumari Neelam, a registrar and senior research fellow at the Department of Ophthalmology at the Alexandra Hospital, will give a talk on the “do’s and don’t’s” of our Asian diets. A senior dietitian of the hospital will then perform a live cooking demonstration, showing how to preserve nutrition while cooking food.

Speaker: Dr Kumari Neelam
Date: Sept 26, 2009 (Sat)
Time: 2 - 4pm
Venue: Auditorium, Alexandra Hospital

This MDS talk is held in conjunction with the national AMD Awareness Week, continuing the society's support for the annual event.

Please note that this event is held at the hospital's Auditorium and NOT the Seminar Room which MDS usually uses for its events. See you there!

Space is limited, so please reserve your seats soon. Call Anne at 6238-7387 or e-mail Sharon at alleyes@singnet.com.sg.

The Battle Against MMD

By Peh Shing Huei
MDS Secretary

The numbers were sobering. 20 per cent of Singapore children are myopic when they walk through the gates of school for the first time. 70 per cent would be wearing glasses or contact lenses before university. And 80 per cent of the military men of this country have less than perfect vision, leading to an ever shrinking pool of pilots for the Singapore Armed Forces.

Singapore, said Dr Adrian Koh (above) in a talk at the Macular Degeneration Society last Saturday, has the "dubious honour" of being the Myopia Capital of the World. The country's short-sighted population is three times higher than the United States.

That's not the worst bit, he added in a 30-minute long presentation titled The Battle Against MMD (Myopic Macular Degeneration). Singaporeans also has a higher proportion of people with high myopia (over 600 degrees). This high myopia group makes up 10 per cent of those wearing spectacles in Singapore, compared to just 2 per cent in the West.

Unfortunately, with high myopia, more problems arise as the eyeball stretches. Instead of a round ball as a normal eye should be, it becomes elongated, not unlike a rugby ball, for example.

There are three main complications from high myopia, said Dr Koh, who is a founding partner and senior consultant at the Eye and Retina Surgeons, Camden Medical Centre. They are: Myopic Macular Degeneration (MMD), Macular Schisis and Retinal Detachment. They can all lead to blindness, if not treated promptly.

Thankfully, treatment has been improving, in particular for the growing threat of MMD. The new Anti-VEGF injections, such as Macugen, Avastin and Lucentis, have been able to prevent 95 per cent of patients from losing further vision and helped 70 per cent gained vision. For 40 per cent of the patients, they even enjoy a doubling of the vision lost, said Dr Koh, who is also the director of the Retinal Centre International and vice-president of the International Retinal Foundation.

But ultimately, prevention is better than cure. He gave four tips to the 35 MDS members present at the Alexandra Hospital - UV protection; Daily Supplements; Stub out the cigarettes; and an antioxidant rich diet.

Online patients' forum

Check out this online patients' forum, for people suffering from various ailments. It is a free forum that serves as a channel for patients to come together, support and encourage one another through their ailments.

There's one on Macular Degeneration too. Take a look! http://medicalhub.com.sg/patients_forum.html

Have a lovely Sunday everyone. :)

MDS' second AGM

Dear MDS members,

We will be holding our 2nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Saturday, 15 August 2009 (see details below). MDS will review its activities during the past year. Members are encouraged to attend the AGM to share your views on what you liked about the 2008/09 MDS activities and how you want the society to proceed.

For catering purposes, please indicate your attendance by either telephoning Anne (62387387), or sending an email to alleyes@singnet.com.sg.

AGENDA OF THE 2nd AGM
MACULAR DEGENERATION SOCIETY (MDS), SINGAPORE
Date: August 15, 2009 (Sat)
Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm

Directly after MDS talk by Dr Adrian Koh
“The Battle against MMD”
Time: 2.00pm – 3.30pm

Venue: Alexandra Hospital Seminar Room

Welcome address by MDS President, Sharon Siddique
Membership Status 2008/09
Annual Report 2008/09
Financial Report 2008/09
Discussion of future activities 2009-2010

We look forward to seeing you at the MDS AGM on Saturday, 15 August, 2009!

Tidbits that make tables groan

By Sharon Siddique
MDS President

Pity to those who missed our fantastic MDS Makan get-together on July 18! We had about 20 members, who had a great time catching up, exchanging experiences and information, and…..EATING!


In GREAT SINGAPORE style, everyone outdid themselves in terms of tasty offerings. Thanks to MDS Exco member, Doreen Heng, we were treated to a very “balanced diet” of wonderful olive rice, vegetarian mee, char siew rice, chicken wings, curry puffs, fruits, doughnuts, cream puffs, and many types of nonya kueh. And I’m sure I have forgotten some tidbits that made the tables groan.

The relaxed atmosphere was very congenial, and I think it can safely be said that no one went home hungry (and some of us went home with some new recipes to try). Hopefully we can make this an annual affair, and attract more dedicated eaters next time round.

* Photographs taken by Judi Ho, daughter of MDS Exco Member Anny Leow. Big thank you to Judi!

Radiation treatment for MD?

Radiation sounds like frightening technique to treat macular degeneration. But scientists are now exploring it as a way to bolster the treatment for MD and so far, the results have been positive.

Judie Janes, for example, is one of those who went through the clinical trials and came out with two thumbs up. Her handiwork used to keep a long list of friends and family in style. Last year, she thought she made her last stitch."I couldn't thread a needle, couldn't see the needle to thread it on my sewing machine," Janes said.

She was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration. Abnormal blood vessels growing under her retina were bleeding. "Vision is not something you can take for granted," she said.

Traditionally, doctors inject a drug into the eye that stops the vessels from growing, but it doesn't last.

"It's a big impact on lifestyle for the patients," said Dr Peter Sonkin, a retina specialist at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. "They have to come in once a month, sometimes for a year or two or longer."

In a clinical trial, doctors use a small probe that delivers targeted low-dose radiation to the eye. The goal -- damage abnormal the blood vessels without affecting the healthy parts of the eye.

"The amount of radiation exposure to the body from going through this procedure is less than one would get flying from New York to Los Angeles in a plane," said Dr Carl Awh, also a retina specialist at Baptist Hospital.

Then surgeons inject a dose of the traditional medication. They say the radiation-drug combo is more powerful, lasts longer and could eliminate the need for monthly injections.

"Nothing's blurry," Janes said. "I passed the eye test, and you know you can't fake an eye test." Janes checks her vision every morning. She went from nearly legally blind - 20/100 - to 20/20 after surgery.

"Every morning after I do my little grid test, I look at that prayer and it lets me know how blessed I really am," she said. A grandma who has too much going on to spend her golden years in the dark.

Patients are sedated for the outpatient surgery which takes about an hour. The technique is in the final stages of approval in Europe and should be available there in August. If the trial is successful in the U.S., the treatment could be available in less than two years.

Foot Tapping Qigong

By Robert Lewanski

Chi Kung Master Huang Runtian, writing in “Treasured Qigong of Traditional Medical School,” states that this “Foot Tapping Technique” can nourish the liver and improve eyesight; curing chronic diseases of the liver, gall bladder and eyesight diseases (near-sighted, far-sighted, and poor-sighted) .

“As a result of conscientious practicing of the Qigong exercise, the liver-wood nourished by sufficient kidney-water and abundant “earth Qi” would be full of vigor and vitality. Thus the Qigong can nourish the liver and make eyes clear.”

Frequency and duration of exercise - slap or clap your feet 50-100 times. For health protection, once a day before going to bed.

How to perform the “Foot Tapping Technique? Take a sitting posture (crossed-legged or simple-sitting…). Close eyes slightly. Rid the mind of all distractions. Relax the whole body. Breathe naturally. Open the eyes.

Put the right foot on the left knee {reverse for females}. Tap [slap] the arch of the right foot with the palm of the left hand. Do the same with the other foot. Slap your foot in a relaxed manner with cupped palm; do not slap your foot with a stiff or rigid hand. Just be relaxed and slightly loose in the wrist area while slapping.

Here are some ailments Chinese Medicine attributes to being helped by foot tapping or slapping: Yin (cold) deficiency, yang (hot) excess, upper body heat excess, lower body deficiency (ungroundedness) , kidney and heart problems, excessive rise of liver yang, seminal emissions, night sweats, heart palpitations, poor memory, insomnia, mental stress, neurasthenia, migraine headaches, knee and back pain, blood deficiency, burning red face, mental depression, poor eyesight, liver and gall bladder problems etc.

In practicing this Chi Kung, you need not believe in it, but you must do the exercise earnestly. You will get benefits from it, whether you believe it or not. While visiting Zen-Taoist Master Hyunoong Sunim, in Washington State several years ago, I was awakened early one morning by a loud clapping.

I found out later that he was slapping his foot. I tested his eyesight a few years later, and found that he has better than 20-20 vision–his eyesight is 40-10–much better than 20-20. He can see and read the 10 foot Snellen Eye Chart at 40 feet away without glasses or contacts! An amazing feat for someone in his 40s. I have found this exercise to be one of the best Chi Kung techniques for improving one’s health and eyesight.

I perform foot slapping 75 times in the morning and before bed. If you have more energy, you can “slap” your feet 200 or 300 times. The goal of this “foot slapping” technique is to open-up the energy points on the foot kidney point and the acupoint on the palm. Once they are opened, slapping 50 times before bed is sufficient. Do not overdo it to exhaustion. Just relax and slap at an even slow tempo, about one second between each slap.

Change of venue

Dear MDS members,

Due to the flu situation in Singapore, we are changing the location of our July Makan Session. Instead of hosting it at the Alexandra Hospital, we will be gathering at the All For Eyes shop. The address is Tanglin Shopping Centre, 19 Tanglin Road, #05-23.

All other details remain the same. The Potluck will start at 2pm on July 18. See you then!

MDS Pot Luck "Makan" Session

Date: July 18 (Sat), 2009
Time: 2 - 4pm
Venue: IDEA Lab, Alexandra Hospital (small room located next to the hospital canteen)

This is not a lecture on macular degeneration. It is just a potluck session for MDS members to do what Singaporeans love best - eat! Yes, makan makan.

Bring a dish, some snacks or just some drinks. Let's have a nice spread of yummy delights and enjoy a leisurely afternoon catching up with each other.

What would you like to bring? Some nonya kuehs? Curry puffs? Donuts? Pandan cakes? Anything will do!

Just give Anne a call at 6238-7387 or e-mail Sharon at alleyes@singnet.com.sg to tell us what you are bringing. MDS Exco member Doreen will call you back in early July to let you know the number of people attending so that you know how much food to bring.

Bone marrow stem cells

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A team of University of Louisville scientists have discovered that stem cells taken from bone marrow can restore damaged retinal tissue by generating new cells.

This is the first known study where stem cells derived from bone marrow have been used to restore the pigmented cell layer just outside the retina or the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE).

The research moves science a step closer to helping those who suffer from vision loss and blindness due to age-related macular degeneration and hereditary retinal degenerations.

During their experiments, UofL researchers found that bone-marrow derived stem cells (BMSCs) were attracted to damaged RPE, and were able to differentiate or move from less specialized cells into components of RPE. According to researcher Suzanne Ildstad, “More research is needed to optimize the outcome and potential for repair of damaged retinal pigment epithelium. A combination with up-to-date tissue engineering might be critical for ultimate success.”

UofL Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences researcher Henry Kaplan is now expanding this research in conjunction with the Swine Institute at the University of Missouri.

Kaplan says pigs have more optical similarities to humans. “After learning more about how bone-marrow derived stem cells can help regenerate retinal pigment epithelium in swine, we hope to translate our research into the clinical setting,” Kaplan said.

This research has implications for a number of chronic diseases including congestive heart failure, diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases, spinal cord injuries, age-related macular degeneration and hereditary retinal degenerations.

The study, published recently in the Archives of Ophthalmology, is available online at archopht.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/127/4/563.

Cataract surgery no effect on AMD

A latest study has showed that cataract surgery has no clear effect on the worsening of Age-Related Macular Degeneration. This is contrary to earlier findings.

AMD and cataract are two of the leading causes of visual impairment in the United States. The relationship between cataract surgery and the development of advanced AMD has generated interest among ophthalmologists. Concerns have been raised regarding the potential of cataract surgery to accelerate progression to advanced, vision-threatening forms of AMD in a number of studies.

In the Age-Related Eye Disease Study Published in the Journal Opththalmology Feb 2009, the population that was followed up carefully at frequent, regular intervals for a long period showed that cataract surgery was not associated with a clinically important increase in the rates of development of advanced AMD.

However, it remains important that individuals with large drusen and pigmentary changes have an understanding of their risk for progression to advanced AMD with or without cataract surgery and that this risk is discussed with the patient before cataract surgery.

Persons with intermediate AMD (bilateral large drusen) or with unilateral advanced AMD should be aware of the fact that the risk of developing advanced AMD is as high as 50% in five years. These results are contrary to the results of some previously published epidemiologic studies, including two reports that each pooled data from different population-based studies.

The five-year results of the Beaver Dam Eye Study and the Blue Mountains Eye Study identified persons with and without a history of cataract extraction at a baseline examination and reexamined them for incident AMD at five and 10 years. They found an association between cataract surgery and the five-year incidence of late AMD.

For the Beaver Dam Eye Study, cataract surgery before baseline was associated with an increased risk of advanced AMD and in the Blue Mountains Eye Study, there was a three-fold increased risk of advanced AMD .

Sudden sight loss drives architect to aid blind

San Francisco Chronicle

Saturday, May 2, 2009

By Sam Whiting
Chronicle Staff Writer

Fifteen months ago Chris Downey was just another green architect, based in Oakland. Now he has an expertise that separates him from every other architect in the Bay Area and all 20,000 attendees at this week's American Institute of Architects' National Convention in San Francisco.


Downey, 46, is a blind architect dedicated to planning buildings for blind people, a niche brought about by his sudden loss of sight after surgery. "It is actually pretty exciting," says Downey, as he sits in a drafting room, like everybody else at SmithGroup Inc. in the Financial District. Then he rises to 6 feet 4, grabs a white cane with one hand and reaches out with the other, grasping for something to shake.

"For someone who likes problem solving, this is quite a challenge," says Downey, who has been working up floor plans in braille to submit to blind clients overseeing the design of a new blind rehab center at the Veterans Affairs center in Palo Alto. "It's a question of how do you design an environment for people that aren't going to see it?"

Right. But there is one question before that. As he puts it, "Blind architect. What a preposterous idea. How does that work?"

The answer starts with a benign tumor that had slowly encircled the intersection of optic nerves. The tumor began to push the nerves out of position, and that's when Downey couldn't follow the flight of a baseball as he played catch with his son, Renzo, now 11, at home in Piedmont. Next Downey was hitting stuff in the road, during the 100 miles he'd do weekly on his bicycle. Still, he could get his work done with the aid of glasses.

His eyeballs looked fine, but an MRI revealed a non-malignant golf-ball-size growth causing the blind spots. "If it weren't for playing baseball with my son and riding my bike, who knows when I would have figured it out," he says.

Because of the tumor's proximity to the optic nerve, radiation treatment to shrink it was not an option. He had surgery on St. Patrick's Day 2008 to try to correct his vision, even though he was aware that it was risky and might not work. Downey's father, a physician, had died of complications from brain surgery at 36, so waking up after the procedure at all made Downey feel "pretty darn lucky."

Luckier still that he had blurry vision, as expected. "It was amazing," he recalls. "It was a 9 1/2-hour procedure, and the next day I was up walking around." When he awoke on the second day, his field of vision had been cut in half horizontally, as if the water were at eye level in a swimming pool.

By the third day he'd lost vision in the top half, too. It varied from dark to light for five days, then it faded to black. "I lost my sight," says Downey, who knew going in that this was a risk. "But I came out pretty darn healthy, with the exception of the sight."

He accepted blindness right away. What he could not accept was the advice of a social worker who came in and immediately started discussing a career change. Every step he had taken since junior high in Raleigh, N.C., had been toward becoming an architect. He had seven years of schooling into it, topped by a master's degree from UC Berkeley in 1992. Since then, he had designed aquariums, libraries, theaters, stores and homes.

He tried returning to the job he'd started a few months before he became ill, but was laid off before Christmas. He searched the Internet, and found one blind architect in Lisbon, Portugal, and a guy who works as a forensic architect, investigating failures in buildings. That was it.

On a whim he called Patrick Bell, a business adviser to architecture firms, and that's when Downey finally got some decent Irish luck. As it happened, Bell was working with a firm called the Design Partnership, which is doing a joint venture with SmithGroup to design a 170,000-square-foot Polytrauma and Blind Rehabilitation Center for the Veterans Administration Palo Alto Health Care System. Bell made the connection, and Downey was hired as a contract architect.

"It's the first time any of us have dealt with even a sight-impaired architect, let alone one who is blind," says Kerri Childress, VA spokeswoman. "It's really been beneficial having an architect who is blind working on a facility to serve the blind."

The design phase runs through July. From there, Downey has been invited to serve as a mentor to blind high school students at a weeklong event this summer in Maryland. (He's also back to cycling on a tandem bike with his buddy steering, and is up to 60 miles in the Oakland hills.)

And he wouldn't mind addressing next year's AIA convention in Miami. "I was always nervous in front of crowds," says Downey, "but now that I can't see them, I think it will make it easier."

Acceptance and adapting

Dr Lee Wei Ling's contributions to The Straits Times in recent months have been garnering attention from the public. In this piece, she spoke about accepting what you cannot change and adapting to capriciousness of life - lessons useful to all macular degeneration sufferers. Hope you find some inspiration and encouragement in her words.

The Sunday Times
May 3, 2009

The day I failed an examination

Failure can be a bitter pill to swallow but it can also bring with it valuable life lessons

By Lee Wei Ling

In February 1982, I took my MRCP part 2 in Edinburgh. The MRCP exam is the postgraduate examination for internal medicine and paediatrics organised by the College of Physicians in Britain. Three universities conduct the examination simultaneously - London, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

I chose to take my examination in Edinburgh because I was not sure I could understand London's Cockney accent or the Glasgow accent. The Edinburgh accent, I figured, would be much easier for me to understand. I was down with flu at the time of the practical examination in which we were supposed to examine patients.

I was told to listen ('auscultate') to the heart of my first patient. I guessed what she had but could not hear the corresponding heart murmur. From then on, my examiners became unfriendly and I became nervous. When the examination was over, I went back to the hospital where I had examined the patient and asked her mother what was wrong with the patient. I had guessed correctly: She had a mitral stenosis, which causes a murmur that is notoriously difficult to hear.

Nowadays, doctors no longer need to have acute hearing in order to diagnose heart conditions. A cheap and simple ultrasound produces clear anatomical pictures, including of heart functions. No more guessing is required. I was sure I had failed the examination though I had sailed through the written paper and the subsequent viva voce.

When the results were announced, I was in the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh building. After the crowd had thinned, I went forward to read the list of names. Mine was not on the list. The news spread like wildfire among the Singaporean medical community. 'Lee Wei Ling has finally failed an exam! She is like any one of us.'

I took my failure very badly because I knew I did not deserve to fail. I did not even need the MRCP as I already had my Master of Medicine (in paediatrics), which is on equal footing with the MRCP. I was also hurt by the fact that many Singapore doctors seemed happy I had failed. I swore to myself that I would not take the examination again. But my father told me: 'You have to take that exam until you pass it. You have to prove to Singapore you can do it.'

My parents have never pressured me or my brothers to aim for academic success. If there was any 'pressure', it was no more than an implicit expectation. This was especially so with me, the most highly strung and stubborn of their three children. I was determined to prove I could equal my brothers' academic achievements.

All my previous examination successes - except for the one doctors need to pass to practise in the United States - had occurred in Singapore. For all written medical examinations, local or foreign, one wrote only one's index number on answer sheets. So there was no question of examiners favouring me because I am Mr Lee Kuan Yew's daughter.

But my father nevertheless wanted me to show Singaporeans that I could succeed outside of Singapore, though success in the MRCP examination is to a small but significant extent dependent on luck.

So I returned to Edinburgh to re-take the MRCP in October 1982. This time I took great care not to catch any bug, and I went up to Edinburgh by train wearing a face mask. Everything went smoothly and I knew I had passed. Indeed, I knew more about the patient - a young child with brain damage - than the examiner.

I returned to London after the examination and asked a friend to telephone me the results. After I received confirmation that I had indeed passed, I phoned home. Ming Yang, my late sister- in-law, picked up the phone. I asked her to tell the rest of my family that I had passed. And I asked about her new baby. She told me he was an albino. Hsien Loong was a little disappointed and had told our father the boy would not be able to do national service. I also knew that albinos have poor eyesight. My heart went out to Ming Yang and Loong.

I flew back to Boston, where I was based then. While napping after my arrival, my father phoned me. 'Ming Yang passed away of a heart attack,' he reported. 'Come back now.' I returned to Singapore for Ming Yang's funeral and stayed to mark the new baby's first month.

My father arranged my return flight to Boston. As he believed flying west was less tiring, I flew through London and stopped there for a day. Since then, London has always brought back unhappy memories for me and I avoided going there until 2004, when I needed to meet someone in Edinburgh.

As luck would have it, his house was but a street away from the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh building. After our meeting, I walked right up to the front door of the building. The building was locked since it was a Sunday. I stood there for a few minutes, before turning to another friend who had accompanied me and said: 'Red dust.' (A Chinese expression signifying the illusions of life.)

Twenty-seven years later, my examination failure seems inconsequential. But I have no regrets having tried and failed the first time. It made me appear normal to the Singapore medical community. Also, considering how outspoken and aggressive I can be, a failure that lent me a vulnerable image did me no harm. My failure forced me to learn how to roll with the punches and to react to life's capriciousness with equanimity.

As for my albino nephew, he has grown into a kind, considerate and responsible young man who is not ashamed of being different from the average man in the street. He too has learnt to accept what he cannot change and to adapt his life around the constraints. Life is unpredictable for all of us. But if we persevere and adapt, many apparently impossible difficulties can be overcome. That my nephew will graduate soon from the National University of Singapore is proof of that fact.

The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute.

Thank you Steven!

This is a message sent by a member who attended the computer tutorial over the weekend.

By Lim Kim Lan
MDS member

Dear Steven, thank you so much for that excellent tutorial on how to adjust the PC to assist our poor visual capacity. You are such a patient and systematic teacher... I feel very blessed also to get your very well-prepared hardcopy notes.

And the nice spread of eats was so very refreshing and thoughtful of you. We could ask for no more. Thanks!

Cosy computer tutorial

MDS organised its second computer tutorial at the home of member Steven Lo, which has once again kindly agreed to be the "tutor" of the day and share his tips on how to make using computers much easier with low vision. Just like the first session last year, it was an intimate and cosy affair, with just a handful of participants. It allowed for closer interaction.

The society is grateful to Steven for sharing and stepping forward to play an active role to help fellow members. A big thank you!

Please find below the report and pictures filed by Steven.

By Steven Lo
MDS member

It was a good thing only five persons registered for the Computer Tutorial because this was the maximum number I could "comfortably" accommodate. Even if my room could take more than five, it would be hard for the participants to make out the words from my 22-inch monitor.


The first half hour was reserved for demonstration only. The participants were shown the default font size set by the software designers for Desktop, Windows Explorer, and Internet Explorer in their computers at home. After a few mouse clicks, they were able to see the much enlarged fonts in the Title Bar, Menu, etc in not only Desktop, Windows Explorer, and Internet Explorer, but also in other software like MS Word, Adobe Reader.


Many of them were aware of the magnification feature in MS Word but all agreed that increasing the font size would cut down the annoyance and giddiness of left-right scrolling in reading.

The participants welcomed the prospect of a short break where we had the opportunity to pose for a group picture. The next hour or so was spent going through in detail the various steps to tweak the computer settings to what we wanted.

One of the participants had to leave for another appointment and requested for a soft copy of the "Roadmap" so he would not miss any steps.

It was around 5 pm when we finally ended the session and took the time to pose a final photo for the MDS blog and website.

Blind piano student goes for big score

By Kimberley Lim
The Straits Times

In a few weeks, Ms Rebecca Koh, who is blind, will know if she has aced her piano fellowship exam. That fellowship accolade is one of the highest a player can aspire to achieve.


"Of the 80 students I've taught, only one other besides Rebecca has taken the test and that student passed,' said Mrs Tan Khe Tong, 81, who has guided Ms Koh for the past three years. The test, which Ms Koh took a week ago, requires one to play five pieces, with some clocking in at 20 minutes. So how does Ms Koh, 30, who was born blind, master music sans reading scores of some pieces which can run to 18 pages?

Said Mrs Tan: "Her ears are her eyes. Her fingers give her the will to press the notes and her determination enables her to endure hours of practice." Said Ms Koh, an only child, who does not work: "Since birth, I could only listen to the things around me, and in the end, I fell in love with music."

Her father, Mr Sebastian Koh, recalled that when she was six, she could reproduce music he had taught her on the organ. "I knew then that she was talented," he said. She started piano lessons at seven and completed her Grade 8 examination in 1998 at 19. In 1999, however, the lessons were discontinued after her father's business of selling second-hand pianos failed.

It was only in 2006, when Ms Koh was introduced to Mrs Tan via a mutual acquaintance, that her quest to master music was renewed. "It was a challenge I could not refuse," said Mrs Tan, president of Royston Music School. Mr Koh, 59, who is now a taxi driver, said Mrs Tan has not charged 'a single cent for tuition these past three years'.

She usually charges $250 to $300 a month for diploma students. Under Mrs Tan's tutelage, Ms Koh obtained first her diploma and then her licentiate from the London College of Music at Thames Valley University. Ms Koh will be in Kuala Lumpur on April 25 to perform at a graduation ceremony for licentiate holders. "This way, she can be an inspiration to others," said Mrs Tan, who had urged the organising committee to let Ms Koh play. The piano student said: "I'm still unsure of my future. All I know is, I want to share my music with the world."

S'pore institute focuses on super antibiotic for eyes

Researchers patent two potential drugs that mimic the body's natural defences

By Liaw Wy-Cin
The Straits Times

SINGAPORE has joined the global race to create a super antibiotic by mimicking the action of the body's natural defences. Local eye researchers recently patented two potential drugs which seem to act against resistant bacteria in eye infections.

The Singapore Eye Research Institute (Seri), which hopes to test the drugs on humans in about two years, joins at least 45 laboratories and eight drug companies worldwide that are working on replicating the effects of proteins called defensins.

Defensins do not work like normal antibiotics, which attack key spots in bacteria to stop them from multiplying. Instead, these immune system proteins merge with the surfaces of bacteria and cause them to rupture. Professor Roger Beuerman, Seri's deputy director, explained it this way: 'Defensins work in a non-specific way. It takes much longer for bacteria to develop resistance because they have to change their whole surface.'

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria mutate to withstand even the strongest drugs for illnesses ranging from tuberculosis to pneumonia. The eye institute, in partnership with some universities and hospitals in Singapore, is believed to be the first to have come up with man-made defensins for eye infections. Most research worldwide focuses on skin and lung infections.

Prof Beuerman is working with Dr Chandra Verma, of the Bioinformatics Institute under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), to come up with computer models of potential antibiotics, which Seri researchers then create and test. Seri's two potential drugs have shown a lot of promise, and were found in animal tests to kill off even notoriously difficult to treat methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, bacteria.

Defensins, discovered in 1985 by a team of scientists in the United States, have been found in skin infections and in the tears of infected eyes. They were hailed as the answer to multi-drug resistant bacteria, but because the actual proteins created in the body take too long to work, researchers have modified them in the laboratory to create a fast-acting variant.

Dr Michael Entzeroth, senior vice-president of drug discovery at A*Star's Experimental Therapeutics Centre, said: 'This is a new therapeutic way to overcome drug resistance and treat patients who would otherwise be very difficult to treat.

'With defensins, scientists have found a new mechanism of action that is also a defensive strategy developed by the body.'

Prof Beuerman is hoping his centre's new antibiotics can treat eye infections rampant in Singapore. Our tropical climate is loved by bacteria, and the high number of contact lens users here are the most prone to developing eye infections. Up to 40 contact lens wearers seen by Singapore General Hospital in the past two years risked going blind after they contracted infections, said Dr Lim Li, senior consultant ophthalmologist at the Singapore National Eye Centre.

Two companies are already testing potential products on people. American biotech company PolyMedix is developing defensin-based antibiotics for heart and blood vessel diseases, while British drug maker Sinclair Pharma is testing another for acne. If the drugs make it past the testing phases, it will be three to five years before they reach the market.

S'pore tops eye research

Lianhe Zaobao

Dec 20, 2008

我国眼科研究　人均产量世界第一

● 陈颖佳

　　新加坡虽然是弹丸小国，但眼科研究的成就受到全球瞩目。根据上个月发表的研究报告，新加坡的眼科研究人均产量位居全球第一，超越了澳大利亚、英国和美国等科技大国。

　　英国和爱尔兰研究员统计了2002至2006年之间，在顶尖眼科刊物发表的学术文章，从而计算各国的眼科研究产量，并在11月份的《国际眼科》期刊发表数据。

　　总产量最高的三个国家分别为美国、英国和日本。但是，在计算统计研究产量对人口的比例，以断定研究资源的效应时，研究人员发现新加坡每100万人口就发表20.49篇研究报告，排名世界第一。

　　排在第二至第四位分别冰岛、澳大利亚、以色列。总产量最高的美国则排名全球第七位，每百万人口，发表了11.99篇研究报告。

　　全国眼科中心院长陈长慧教授受访时指出，我国的眼科研究有超过90％是由新加坡眼科研究所（SERI）进行。

　　新加坡眼科研究所一共有67名职员，包括12名全职研究员，每年的研究经费只有600万元，其中一半还是研究人员通过公开竞争，争取到的研究经费。

　　国际咨询团进行的评审显示，无论是研究数量或者素质，全国眼科中心和新加坡眼科研究所都能和预算较高的英美眼科研究中心抗衡。

　　陈长慧说，约翰霍普金斯大学的威尔莫眼科研究中心（Wilmer Eye Institute）拥有180名全职研究员，常年研究预算高达2000万美元，发表的刊物被引用的数次与新加坡眼科研究所其实不相上下。

　　他指出，眼科研究所通过资源分享来削减研究成本，从而取得高超的研究效率。

虽然隶属眼科中心，眼科研究所实际上是一个临床医学研究网络，为来自各个公共医院的眼科医生，以及新加坡国立大学、南洋理工大学、杜克—国大医学研究生院和各个科研机构的研究人员，提供一个相互合作的平台。

　　陈长慧说，新加坡两年前最早发现博士伦（Bausch & Lomb）生产的隐型眼镜清洗液是导致眼角膜感染的原因，并在第一时间发布警告，叫国人暂停使用该产品，并向全球敲响警钟。这是因为前线的医疗人员和实验室的研究人员通力合作，才能及早确定问题。

　 　眼科研究所接下来希望继续吸引顶尖的眼科研究人员落户我国，例如原籍中国和印度、但正在英美国做研究的眼科临床科学家。陈长慧说："我们未必能提供最优 渥的薪金待遇，但是科研人员知道，他们到新加坡发展，是有机会争取到数百万元或数千万元的研究经费。这种发展空间是钻研眼科的研究人员梦寐以求的。"

　　新加坡眼科研究所十年前成立，原本的宗旨是展开近视研究，协助减少我国的近视人口比例。后来，研究所在眼角膜移植和青光眼研究取得重大的成就。我国就是首个成功使用眼表层干细胞培植人造眼角膜，成功进行移植手术的东南亚国家。

Obama lifts stem cells ban

After eight years of frustration, stem cells researcher are celebrating President Barack Obama's breakthrough act last Monday. The United States president lifted restrictions on embryonic stem cells research, reversing his predecessor George W. Bush' ruling in 2001.

Mr Obama's executive order is expected to give a huge boost to stem cells research in the US, which has floundered in the last eight years in comparison with other countries, like the United Kingdom and Singapore. The Bush-era ban restricted collaboration between scientists of different countries, which is a key part of research.

President Bush had restricted the research on religious and moral grounds, arguing that embryos are life. But Mr Obama argued against it, saying: "Our government has forced what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values. It is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda — and that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology."


Stem cells research is seen as the new medical frontier, with hopes that it can cure diseases like macular degeneration. The road ahead is long, but at least a key step in taken in the right direction.

Understanding Artificial Vision

Around 80 MDS members and friends from the RP Society attended the first MDS meeting of 2009 at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre. We signed up 4 new members, and 24 renewed their membership during registration. We are most grateful to Prof Au Eong Kah Guan, of the Singapore International Eye Cataract Retina Centre, for his fascinating talk on “Artificial Vision”. Prof Au Eong is also our MDS advisor, and has been instrumental in growing our support group. The large turnout testifies to members’ interest in the topic!


Prof Au Eong did a great job of “translating” this highly technical subject into concepts and terms which left us all with a better understanding of what “Artificial Vision” means, what is the current stage of medical research, and what we can anticipate in future. He explained that retinal prostheses are currently being developed to provide some sight to subjects blinded from outer retinal degenerations, such as advanced Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a genetic eye disease that causes blindness.

An American company, Second Sight® Medical Products, Inc. is currently, the leading developer of retinal prostheses. The company conducted its first clinical study - on its devise, Argus I - in 2002. During that study, six RP volunteers were implanted with the Argus I system.

Results were encouraging, and the enrollment for the ArgusTM II Retinal Implant study has recently been launched in the United States, Europe and Mexico for people with advanced RP. The Argus II consists of a 60-electrode grid that is surgically implanted on the retina. These electrodes transmit information acquired from an external video camera that is mounted on a pair of eyeglasses worn by implanted subjects.


Prof Au Eong cautioned that there is a long way to go before patients will be driving and reading the fine print with such devices. While it is true that medical advances are steadily being made, he ended his talk on a note of caution. It is very important to maintain realistic expectations. So perhaps in the lifetimes of our younger members, some of our hopes for artificial vision can be realised.