The Wall Street Journal  (1/29, D1, Wang, Subscription Publication, 2.29M) reports on a new technology, known as Argus II, that may soon be available in the US, which combines an eye implant and video-camera-enabled glasses. The retinal prosthesis is awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration, and will most likely benefit patients with retinitis pigmentosa, as well as those with severe macular degeneration, which, according to the National Eye Institute, is an age-related disease that damages the part of the eye that perceives fine detail.

EyeRis Vision Center is excited to announce we are now accepting CommUnityCare Vision Program Vouchers.  This is a locally funded program through grants from St. David's Foundation Community Fund & Impact Fund.  Vision Voucher and Diabetic Retinal Screening Voucher will be accepted for eye exams.  If you have any questions, please give us a call at (512) 292-9326 for more information.

We apologize for the inconvenience.  Starting February 2013, we'll be closed Sunday.  For more information on our regular office hours, please see "Contact Us".  Thank you.

The AP  (1/2, Marchione, Stobbe) reports, "Scientists have used imaging tests to show for the first time that fructose, a sugar that saturates the American diet, can trigger brain changes that may lead to overeating." Although "it's a small study and does not prove that fructose or its relative, high-fructose corn syrup, can cause obesity...experts say it adds evidence they may play a role." Investigators "used magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, scans to track blood flow in the brain in 20 young, normal-weight people before and after they had drinks containing glucose or fructose in two sessions several weeks apart."

Print media covered a study suggesting that an increasing percentage of Americans are losing their eyesight due to the complications of diabetes. Because diabetes rates are on the rise, so are the complications of the illness, including those that affect eyesight.

        USA Today  (12/10, Szabo, Today) reports, "The nation's twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes are beginning to rob more Americans of their sight," according to a study  published Dec. 12 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. "The percentage of American adults suffering from uncorrectable vision loss spiked 21% in only about six years, rising to nearly 1.7% of the population, according to an analysis of the years 1999-2002 to 2005-08." However, "rates of visual impairment doubled among poor people and those who had had diabetes for a decade or more," the study found.