News Releases: Children

• Emory Eye Center Starts Study for Infants with Blocked Tear Ducts
  (ATLANTA) Emory Eye Center will participate in third phase of a National Eye Institute (NEI)-sponsored multicenter clinical trial, the Nasolacrimal Duct Obstruction (NLDO) Study in late winter. The trial will evaluate which of two approaches is optimal in treating young infants with blocked tear duct: probing the obstruction immediately or waiting to see if the condition goes away on its own after six months, as is often the case.

• Emory's 11th Annual RB Picnic Celebrates Lives of Children Who Have Survived Eye Cancer

  (ATLANTA) April 20, 2009 | (ATLANTA)  The eleventh annual RB Picnic, coordinated by Emory Eye Center, will be held from  9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 9, at WD Thompson Park, off Mason Mill Road in Decatur. This very special event promises a day of fun and celebration for both the young patients and their families who have faced this formerly fatal childhood cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma (RB).

• Emory Eye Center to Participate in a Clinical Research Study to Investigate a Promising New Treatment for Retinopathy of Prematurity
  (ATLANTA) Emory Eye Center along with 10 other sites across the country will participate in a Phase I research study to establish a safety profile for an anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) drug, Avastin ® (Bevacizumab), for premature babies with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).
  October 23, 2008

• Emory's 10th Annual RB Picnic Celebrates Lives of Children Who have Survived Eye Cancer
  (ATLANTA) The tenth annual RB Picnic, coordinated by Emory Eye Center, will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, June 14, at WD Thompson Park, off Mason Mill Road in Decatur. This very special event promises a day of fun and celebration for both the young patients and their families who have faced this formerly fatal childhood cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma (RB).
  May 9, 2008

• Emory Eye Center Urges Protective Eyewear for Children Playing Sports
  National Healthy Vision Month Promotes Safety and Prevention of Eye Injuries
  (ATLANTA) Emory Eye Center physicians join other eye centers around the country in celebrating Healthy Vision Month in May. Devoted to promoting vision objectives within the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Healthy People 2010 initiative, this year’s Healthy Vision Month urges the use of personal protective eyewear in recreational activities and hazardous situations around the home.
  April 3, 2008

• Emory’s RB Pinic Promises a Heartwarming Celebration of Life Along with Colorful, Fun Activities for Children Who Have Survived RB—Cancer of the Eye
  (ATLANTA) The ninth annual RB Picnic, coordinated by the Emory Eye Center, will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, June 2, at WD Thompson Park, off Mason Mill Road in Decatur. This very special event promises a day of fun and celebration for both the young patients and their families who have faced this formerly fatal childhood cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma.
  May 14, 2007

• Emory’s RB pinic promises a heartwarming celebration of life along with colorful, fun activities for children who have survived RB—Cancer of the eye
  ( ATLANTA ) The seventh annual RB Picnic , coordinated by the Emory Eye Center, will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7 , at WD Thompson Park, off Mason Mill Road in Decatur. This very special event promises a day of fun and celebration for both the young patients and their families who have faced this formerly fatal childhood cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma.
  April 21, 2005

• Emory Eye Center study says that older children can benefit from treatment for childhood's most common eye disorder
  ( ATLANTA) Surprising results from a nationwide clinical trial show that many children age seven through 17 with amblyopia (lazy eye) may benefit from treatments that are more commonly used on younger children. Treatment improved the vision of many of the 507 older children with amblyopia studied at 49 eye centers. Previously, eye care professionals often thought that treating amblyopia in older children would be of little benefit. The study results, funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), appears in the April issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.
  April 11, 2005

• Emory Eye Center the site of study to determine best treatment for babies with cataract
  Emory Eye Center will be the lead center among other eye institutes across the country to study what treatment for infants born with a cataract in one eye is the better to attain corrected vision once that cataract is removed: 1) using a contact lens or 2) surgically placing a plastic lens (intra-ocular lens [IOL]) in the baby's eye following removal of the cataract. The Infant Aphakia Treatment Study (IATS) will study infants from age four weeks to seven months.
  October 5, 2004

• Emory Eye Center suggests celebrating safely on July 4th: Just leave the fireworks to professionals
  Ophthalmologists at Emory Eye Center and across the nation are reminding those who will participate in July 4th fireworks displays put on by professionals to do just that-leave the fireworks to the professionals. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), more than 9,000 fireworks-related injuries are seen in emergency rooms each year. Of these, nearly half are injuries to the head, nearly 30 percent of these injuries are to the eyes and one-fourth result in permanent vision loss or blindness.
  June 23, 2004

• Early treatment of blinding eye disease in infant can prevent severe vision loss says Emory Ophthalmologist
  An important clinical trial, sponsored by the National Eye Institute (NEI), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has provided doctors with improved prognostic indicators and treatment options for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a blinding disease that affects premature, low birthweight infants. ROP spurs the growth of abnormal blood vessels in the back of the eye. These vessels leak fluid and blood and scar the nerve tissue inside the eye, increasing the risk of retinal detachment and severe vision loss in infants.
  January 6, 2004

• Emory Eye Center physician finds lesser amount of patching effective for treating lazy eye in children
  There is good news on all fronts for children who have severe lazy eye or amblyopia. A recent study conducted at Emory Eye Center and 31 other sites found that children with amblyopia between the ages of three and seven years can be treated just as effectively with a six-hour daily regimen of patching as with a full-time patching regimen for all waking hours. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group that appears in the November issue of Ophthalmology. Ophthalmology is the clinical journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the Eye M.D. Association.
  November 11, 2003

• Emory Eye Center NEI study finds reduced daily eye patching effectively treats childhood's most common eye disorder
  A study conducted at Emory Eye Center and 35 other clinical sites found that patching the unaffected eye of children with moderate amblyopia for two hours daily works as well as patching the eye for six hours. This research finding should lead to better compliance with treatment and improved quality of life for children with amblyopia, or “lazy eye,” the most common cause of visual impairment in childhood.
  May 12, 2003

• Eye first aid for children
  “Watch it! You’ll put your eye out!” That decades-old saying has a lot of credibility according to many ophthalmologists, particularly around the holidays. Toys or athletic equipment with flying parts or sharp objects may make your children happy, but they also can be an accident waiting to happen. More than 90 percent of all eye injuries in children can be prevented. Here’s how.
  December 9, 2002

• Emory's RB picnic promises a heartwarming celebration of life along with colorful, fun activities for children who have survived RB, cancer of the eye
  The fourth annual RB Picnic, coordinated by the Emory Eye Center, will be held from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18, at WD Thompson Park, off Mason Mill Road in Decatur. This very special event promises a day of fun and celebration for both the young patients and their families who have faced this formerly fatal childhood cancer of the eye called retinoblastoma. RB, which is a tumor of the retina (the back of the eye) can be hereditary or non-hereditary. When hereditary, it can affect both eyes and sometimes other organs of the body, whereas the non-hereditary type will usually only affect one eye. RB mainly affects young children and occurs in one in 20,000 live births.
  May 18, 2002

• Emory Eye Center finds eye drops to treat childhood disorder can work as well as patching the eye
  (ATLANTA) A National Eye Institute (NEI) study, conducted at more than 40 sites nationwide including Emory Eye Center, has found that atropine drops, given once a day to treat amblyopia or lazy eye -- the most common cause of visual impairment in children -- work as well as the standard treatment of patching one eye. This research finding in the Amblyopia Treatment Study may lead to better compliance with treatment and improved quality of life in children with this eye disorder. These results appear in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.
  March 11, 2002

• Emory Eye Center receives grants to continue Corneal transplants in children
  A $118,000 grant from the Carlos and Marguerite Mason Trust will enable the Emory Eye Center to support the care of children who need cornea transplants. This “bridge funding” the Pediatric Corneal Transplant Program at Emory begins January 2002 and will last one year. The grant comes from Wachovia Bank, which administers funding from the trust created by Carlos and Marguerite Mason. Cornea transplants are the most common form of transplant in medicine. Because of the new techniques and drugs that have been developed over the last four decades, this surgery has a very high success rate.
  February 4, 2002

• Media Advisory: Emory Eye Center hosts annual picnic for children treated for Retinoblastoma on Saturday (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
  The Emory Eye Center's ocular oncology section will host its annual springtime picnic for children treated at Emory for retinoblastoma (RB), a hereditary retinal tumor that affects mainly children. With new treatment, called transpupillary thermotherapy (TPTT), most of the children affected with RB have a good prognosis today, especially if detected in the early stages.
  May 9, 2001

• Study at Emory Eye Center provides new hope for nearsighted children
  An experimental new drug is providing some hope that in the future, preventing the typical progression of myopia, or nearsightedness, in children may be possible. In other words, children who become nearsighted early may not have to endure stronger and stronger glasses or contact lenses to treat their vision problem. That nearsightedness could be halted in an early stage.
  January 22, 2001

• Early detection and treatment of cataracts in children prevent permanent vision loss
  Children born with cataracts should be treated early in life to prevent blindness, report Emory Eye Center pediatric ophthalmologists Scott Lambert, M.D., and Arlene Drack, M.D., in a recently published review article in Survey of Ophthalmology. In addition, these children should continue treatment with an ophthalmologist long term to prevent vision loss.
  August, 12 1996

• Emory ophthalmologist co-directs international pediatric cataract conference
  Emory Eye Center pediatric ophthalmologist Scott Lambert, M.D., recently co-directed an international symposium that provided the latest information about the diagnosis and treatment of congenital cataracts. The Emory Eye Center, March of Dimes Birth Defect Foundation (USA), Cataract Institute of America, and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, sponsored the course.
  August 12, 1996