News Releases: Low Vision

• Clinical Trial Aims to Help Those with Macular Degeneration Find New Way of Seeing

  (ATLANTA) December 4, 2008 | The brain’s remarkable ability to reorganize itself to compensate for vision loss, the ability called plasticity, may be the key in helping those with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) see better. This theory is the impetus behind a study between Emory Eye Center and the Georgia Institute of Technology (Psychology). Patients who have retinal damage because of AMD sometimes begin to see by using other parts of the intact retina.

• Emory Eye Center Faculty To Present at Foundation Fighting Blindness Seminar
  (ATLANTA) Four Emory Eye Center faculty members will present information on retinal diseases and treatments at a Foundation Fighting Blindness half-day seminar on Saturday, March 29, in Atlanta. The event is free and open to the public.  “Macular Degeneration, RP and Related Diseases” will focus on treatments and therapies, research advances and low vision resources to help in day-to-day activities.
  February 26, 2008

• New Technology Provides Low Vision Patients With New Options For Vision Assisitance
  ATLANTA --Although getting older doesn't mean you lose your vision, many aging Americans are indeed dealing with some sort of vision disability. Some may develop what practitioners call "low vision," meaning vision that can't be corrected with regular glasses or contact lenses, medicine or surgery. Although this vision loss isn't common, those who do develop it do so as a result of eye diseases and conditions such as macular degeneration, cataract, glaucoma and diabetes. A few develop vision loss after traumatic eye injuries or from birth defects.
  March 29, 2006

• Emory Eye Center enlarges its Comprehensive Ophthalmology offerings with Vision and Optical Services now on the 1st floor of Clinic B
  Emory Eye Center has enlarged its Comprehensive Ophthalmology service with a 4,300 square foot expansion on the first floor of The Emory Clinic, B Building. Housing the Vision and Optical Services sections, the new suite will include clinics for vision care, low vision rehabilitation and a new state-of-the-art optical shop. Previously, these services were housed on the fifth floor of the clinic, where Emory Eye Center's Comprehensive and Specialty Contact Lens sections remain. The new clinic is the culmination of 13 years of leadership by Ned S. Witkin, OD. director of Optometric and Low Vision Services from 1991 to 2004. Dr. Witkin, the Eye Center's first optometrist, known for his co-development of the JORDY-a low vision device-was instrumental in the vision for and creation of this new expanded clinic before he died on January 24, 2004.
  June 24, 2004

• New Generation of Vision-Enhancing System Offers Independence to Individuals with Low Vision
  The second generation of a popular and seemingly amazing low vision device has recently come on the market, according to Emory Eye Center's Director of Low Vision, Dr. Ned Witkin. Named the "Jordy" (v.2.0), the newest version offers several improvements over last year's debut model. "This is the most exciting advancement we've had in technology for the visually impaired in years," says Dr. Witkin.
  April 24, 2001

• New Vision-Enhancing System Offers Independence to Individuals with Low Vision
  Retired CPA Bernard Windham, 77, had to stop helping his family with their tax returns a couple of years ago when he became legally blind. Macular degeneration and a cataract in one eye have destroyed much of his vision. Now, thanks to a new vision-assisting device that he received at the Emory Eye Center's Low Vision Clinic, he's back in action, helping his family complete their returns this tax season.
  February 17, 2000

• Emory offers new virtual reality system for individuals with severely limited vision
  Individuals whose sight has been severely impaired by macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy or other blinding diseases have new hope for independence. The Emory Eye Center’s Low Vision Clinic now offers patients a new digital visual system called V-max, which can help them see well enough to recognize faces, write checks, needlepoint, paint — activities they are unable to perform with conventional glasses. Manufactured by Enhanced Vision Systems, V-max is portable, self-focusing, and unlike other devices, provides distance and close-up vision in one system.
  May 27, 1998

• Max “The Mouse” now available at Emory to help low vision patients read
  A new hand-held device that looks like a computer mouse is helping individuals with severely limited vision read books, letters, newspapers, or labels — print they can’t read with standard spectacles. Dubbed “Max” by its maker, this electronic magnifier mouse is available at the Emory Eye Center for patients with low vision due to macular degeneration, glaucoma or other blinding diseases.
  May 27, 1998

• Emory offers new vision-enhancing system to individuals with low vision
  Frances W. Bennett, 79, doesn’t let much get in her way when it comes to playing bridge. Not even a blinding eye disease. When glasses, eye surgery and laser treatment did not improve her vision for playing cards or many of her daily activities, Mrs. Bennett came to the Low Vision Clinic at the Emory Eye Center for help. This great-grandmother is one of the first visually impaired people in the U.S. using a self-focusing bioptic telescope to enhance her vision. Emory is one of only a dozen sites in the country and the only center in the state prescribing this revolutionary device.
  April 21, 1998