Be cautious with Halloween contacts

FRIDAY, Oct. 31 (HealthDay News) -- This Halloween, don't put anything in your eye unless it has been prescribed by an eye doctor.

That's the warning from the American Optometric Association (AOA), which is concerned about people wearing decorative contact lenses to enhance their costumes.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates decorative lenses as a medical device, some of these products are illegally marketed and distributed directly to consumers through the Internet, beauty salons and other sources. The AOA warns that only a proper medical evaluation from an eye doctor can determine whether someone is a candidate for contact lenses and that the lenses fit properly.

"Purchasing contact lenses without a prescription can result in serious eye health and vision damage, since consumers are not properly educated on cleaning and disinfecting, nor in proper removal and application of the contact lens," Dr. Paul Klein, chairman of the AOAs Contact Lens and Cornea Section, said in a news release from the organization. "Without a prescription and wearing instructions from an eye doctor, consumers who wear these contact lenses put themselves at risk of serious bacterial infection, or even significant damage to the eye's ability to function, with the potential for irreversible sight loss."

Risks associated with the use of decorative contact lenses include conjunctivitis, swelling, allergic reaction and corneal abrasion due to poor lens fit. This could result in several types of eye problems and vision impairments.

"Even though they carry no prescription and may be worn for short periods of time, decorative contact lenses carry the same risks as corrective contact lenses," Klein said. "Because of this, it's important for consumers utilizing these lenses to familiarize themselves with the information available from an eye doctor, so as to reduce the risk of infection."

It's important to find retinal detachments early

In the UK's Daily Mail (10/13), reporter Janette Marshall details her personal experience with a torn retina, the "first warning sign" of which "was a sudden onset of frequent flashes like cartoon lightning streaks," followed by numerous floating black spots. Eric Ezra, director of vitreoretinal surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital, explains that "early diagnosis and treatment" of a torn retina "is essential." Without immediate treatment, "a torn retina can cause the entire retina to detach from the back of the eye, causing loss of sight," sometimes within "a matter of days or even few hours."

Electronic Medical Records are good for patients

In an op-ed in the San Jose Mercury News (10/11), Raj Bhandari, MD, and Terry L. Austen, of the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, wrote that electronic medical records (EMRs) "improve the quality of care," giving "physicians, nurses, and technicians a patient's comprehensive medical history at the point of care," while increasing "efficiency and" containing "costs by reducing duplication and improving patient safety." EMRs can also allow patients to "use their home computers to increase convenience by making appointments online, ordering prescription refills that are delivered to their home, viewing their lab results through secure webpages, and emailing their physicians." Bhandari and Austen concluded, "Notes jotted on paper and placed in multiple files where doctors rarely see them are a remnant of a fragmented, inefficient model of medical care."

How to prevent pink eye.

(HealthDay News) -- Conjunctivitis, commonly called pinkeye, is a highly contagious infection.

The Nemours Foundation offers these suggestions to protect your child and help reduce pinkeye's spread:

* Teach your child to wash hands frequently, using soap and warm water.
* Tell your child to never share products such as eye makeup, washcloths, eye drops, pillowcases or towels.
* Limit exposure to allergens by keeping windows closed (when outdoor allergen levels are high) and vacuuming often.
* After you've cared for a child with pinkeye, wash your hands thoroughly, and discard anything used to clean the eyes.
* Carefully wash in very hot water, and separate from other washables, any towels or linens that the infected child used.

People with AMD may be at risk for heart disease

MedPage Today (10/1, Fiore) reported that, according to a study published online in Ophthalmology, "patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have" a 50 percent "increased risk of coronary heart disease." Researchers from the Singapore National Eye Center "conducted a population-based cohort study of 1,786 patients who didn't have heart disease and 2,228 patients without stroke at baseline." Patients "were between the ages of 69 and 97." The investigators "found that those with early macular degeneration had a higher cumulative incidence of heart disease than those without (25.8 percent versus 18.9 percent)." Notably, "there was a significantly higher cumulative incidence of heart disease for those with specific signs of early macular degeneration -- soft drusen, hyperpigmentation, and RPE depigmentation."