News by Subject Medicine & Health

Findings from a new randomized clinical trial, now show that contrary to long-held beliefs, omega-3 supplements are no more effective than placebo at alleviating dry eye symptoms. For years, patients and their eye doctors have turned to omega-3 fatty acids commonly found in fish-derived supplements as a treatment for the disease. The results are published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Results show the supplement is no better than placebo in relieving signs and symptoms of disease.

Accurately detecting a rare, but devastating cause of blindness in premature babies can be done as effectively with telemedicine as with traditional, in-person eye exams, a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology suggests.The finding could enable more blindness-preventing treatment for infants born in rural and other areas where there are few ophthalmologists trained to detect the condition, called retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP.

A new Michigan State University study is the first to find that a particular type of lipid, or fat, thought to only exist in the skin, now lives in your eye and might play a major role in deterring diabetic retinopathy.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) affects more than 1.75 million individuals in the United States. Because the population is aging, that number will increase to almost 3 million by 2020. Between 80 and 90 percent of cases in this country are the dry version of the condition, for which no effective treatment exists.