Optometry Today

Vision rehabilitation must be considered as part of upcoming social care reforms, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has emphasised.

Suitable patients may include established, successful distance only contact lens wearers, as well as new wearers who are strongly motivated to remain independent of spectacles.1-3 Motivation is a critical factor for success with soft multifocal contact lenses.1-3 Both pre-presbyopic and presbyopic patients are frequently unfamiliar with the term presbyopia and its implications.2 The need for presbyopic correction is also commonly perceived negatively, often as a sign of ageing.2 Consequently,...

EssilorLuxottica has launched the newest generation of its hearing glasses, Nuance Audio, offering extended battery life, enhanced audio, and an expanded range of styles. The open-ear hearing glasses are designed for adults with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. Nuance Audio Plus builds on the existing design, which will remain available, with advancements in amplification, speech clarity in noise and own-voice perception, the company said.

There is a “real opportunity” to utilise the skills and knowledge of primary care on the High Street after the proven success of Pharmacy First, health minister Dame Diana Johnson MP told attendees at the AOP’s fringe event during the Labour Party Conference (Monday 28 September, Liverpool Experience Campus). “We are really using the skills and knowledge of pharmacists, and really developing that, and I think that is absolutely right, because it is accessible,” Johnson said.

CooperVision has announced a pipeline of six new product advancements, including new contact lens solutions for myopic and astigmatic patients and multifocal wearers. The new products were announced during the official opening of CooperVision’s new global headquarters, The Vision Centre, at Adanac Park in Southampton, on Wednesday 23 September.

Approaching the final year of his medical degree, optometrist, James Brawn, was faced with a choice. He could continue down a path that led to him becoming a qualified doctor, or he could return to his career as an optometrist. Should he continue his pursuit of a longstanding professional ambition – one that he had already made many sacrifices to obtain? Or should he return to a familiar and comfortable career that would enable him to spend more time with his young daughters?

Listen closely to the patient’s symptoms, don’t be blinkered by the given history, and “have your feelers out for red flags,” were the key takeaways of a session that delved into vitreoretinal presentations at Specsavers Professional Advancement Conference on 13 September.

A new study published in PLOS Digital Health has outlined efforts to identify biomarkers for atrial fibrillation (AF) through artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of retinal images. Research led by Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology analysed optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans and retinal photographs of 90,000 people from two large datasets (AlzEye and UK Biobank).

Haag-Streit UK has announced the 2026 winners of its annual slit lamp imaging competition, which attracted 311 entries from 25 countries. Submissions were evaluated based on image quality, technical execution and disease interest.

A thematic review on commercial pressures and the 2026 UK Optical Education Report were discussed at the latest meeting of the General Optical Council (30 September, held online). Responses to a GOC consultation on CPD reform and the Lord Mann review of antisemitism and other forms of racism in the NHS were also on the agenda. Here, OT presents a selection of insights from the meeting.