Restoring Sight and Hope for Patients in Need

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BostonSight manufacturing lab

Last year was challenging for many businesses. As a healthcare facility, BostonSight had to make significant reductions in clinical visits to ensure patient and staff safety.  With the help of a PPP loan from Citizens, BostonSight continued to provide excellent care and service despite the challenges. Today, we are seeing patients on a regular schedule and manufacturing is at full capacity.

Read the article on Citizens’ website here.

Proper Hygiene and PROSE Device Care Critical for Preventing Infections

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People who use PROSE devices or wear contact lenses may be especially prone to infections; therefore, practicing good hygiene and following device care instructions are critical to maintaining healthy eyes. Scleral lens device on human finger

Acanthamoeba Infection and Keratitis

Acanthamoeba is an organism that is found in soil, dust, and water, including chlorinated pools, bottled drinking water, and tap water. Once this organism affects the eye, it feeds on the bacteria that can be found on poorly cleaned contact lenses and cases. The organism spreads quickly as it attacks the cornea and begins destroying tissue. Unless caught early, treatment of this infection can take months and is not always successful. At its worst, the infection can necessitate a corneal transplant or result in blindness. This parasitic infection can occur in conjunction with a bacterial infection called keratitis, which is an infection of the cornea. This additional corneal infection is also more common in contact lens wearers and can compound accurate diagnosis and treatment. Symptoms include eye pain, redness, discharge, light sensitivity, and foreign body sensation. People who experience any sign of eye infection, especially those who use PROSE devices or contact lenses, should consult their eye care provider to ensure accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment to prevent complications and preserve sight. Healthcare professionals recommend that the best ways to prevent these infections are to follow lens and device care protocols exactly as instructed and to always use good hygiene prior to touching the eyes, handling lenses, or using any components needed for care and disinfection. PROSE use and care guidelines are on our website under Application and Removal Resources.

Remember to:

  • Always wash hands before insertion or removal.
  • Don’t allow tap water to come in contact with lenses.
  • Never re-use saline or disinfecting solutions.
  • Exchange cases at least every few months.
  • Use only solutions recommended by your eye-care provider.
While it may be tempting to take shortcuts in the interest of saving time or money, these shortcuts could cost you your vision. This post is part of BostonSight’s archival content and was originally authored by Janice M. Epstein. Content has been updated to be current.  This content is informational in nature and should not be considered medical advice. Please reach out to your medical professional for questions about your vision.   

BostonSight Elects Dr. Howard Purcell and Mr. Ron Remy to Board of Directors

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Expertise will help drive BostonSight’s mission 

Needham, Mass. –May 11, 2021 – BostonSight®, a nonprofit eye healthcare organization and research center dedicated to saving sight and improving quality of life for patients, announced today they have elected Dr. Howard Purcell and Mr. Ron Remy to the BostonSight Board of Directors. 

Dr. Purcell is the current President and CEO of the New England College of Optometry (NECO). Dr. Purcell began his optometric career in a group optometric practice. In 1991, he joined the faculty of Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry, where he was a principal in the development of the Department of Cornea and Contact Lenses.  Dr. Purcell has also served as the Senior Vice President, Customer Development for Essilor of America and Senior Director of Professional Affairs for Johnson & Johnson Vision Care. He is a Diplomate in the Cornea and Contact Lens Section of the American Academy of Optometry and a graduate of NECO. 

Dr. Howard Purcell

Mr. Remy is Chief Executive Officer at Mobile Heartbeat, a software company that improves clinical collaboration by connecting patients’ care teams through a single, unified platform. Mr. Remy has more than 20 years of technology management and leadership experience. He has served as President and CEO of Auspice Corporation, and Chief Operating Officer of Modiv Media and BioMed 20/20 Technologies. He began his career as a systems engineer for Sun Microsystems. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

Headshot Ron Remy

Mr. Ron Remy

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Purcell and Mr. Remy to the Board,” said Sara Yost, BostonSight President and CEO.  “BostonSight will benefit from their wealth of experience in private practice, academia, the optometric industry, and technology management.”  

About BostonSight® 
Founded in 1992, the Needham, MA, Center of Excellence includes a clinic, research center, state-of-the-art FDA-certified and ISO-compliant manufacturing lab, and patient and family support center. BostonSight PROSE™ Treatment is available at top medical centers around the U.S., Canada, and India. BostonSight SCLERAL was launched to expand access to global scleral lens technology.  Eye care practitioners achieve a simple, effective scleral lens fit that provides optimal vision and comfort for patients while attaining long-term eye health. BostonSight SCLERAL has partnerships around the world: ABB Optical in North America, Spectrum International in Latin America, and L.V. Prasad Eye Institute in the Middle East and India.  BostonSight envisions a world where no one suffers loss of sight from corneal irregularities or ocular surface disease. Learn more at www.bostonsight.org. 

 

Contact:  

Michele Hart                                                              
BostonSight
(617) 669-4225
mhart@bostonsight.org

May is Healthy Vision Month

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights May as Healthy Vision Month.  Their Vision Health Initiative (VHI) includes information on the basics of vision and eye health, prevention and risk management, state and community partnerships, vision health data, and resources and publications. Although BostonSight specializes in the treatment of diseased or damaged corneas and dry eyes, taking care of your vision is imperative from the start. According to the CDC, “people with vision problems are more likely than those with good vision to have diabetes, poor hearing, heart problems, high blood pressure, lower back pain and strokes, as well as have increased risk for falls, injury and depression.” Some fast facts from the CDC:
  • Vision loss ranks among the top ten causes of disability in the United States.
  • More than 3.4 million Americans 40 years and older are blind (having a visual acuity of 20/200 or less or a visual field on 20 degrees or less) or visually impaired (having a visual acuity of 20/40 or less).
  • Vision loss significantly impacts quality of life. Decreased ability to see often leads to the inability to drive, read, keep accounts, and travel in unfamiliar places. The cost of vision loss, including direct costs and lost productivity, is estimated to exceed $35 billion (Rein, Zhang, Wirth, et al., 2006)
Source:  https://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/basic_information/vision_loss.htm Nine ways you can help protect your vision today.
  1. Get regular comprehensive dilated eye exams.
  2. Know your family’s eye health history. It’s important to know if anyone has been diagnosed with an eye disease or condition, since some are hereditary.
  3. Eat right to protect your sight: In particular, eat plenty of dark leafy greens such as spinach, kale, or collard greens, and fish that is high in omega-3 fatty acids such as salmon, albacore tuna, trout, and halibut.
  4. Get physical activity
  5. Wear protective eyewear when playing sports or doing activities around the home, such as painting, yard work, and home repairs.
  6. Quit smoking, or don’t smoke at all.
  7. Wear sunglasses that block 99 percent-100 percent of ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation.
  8. Wash your hands before taking out your contacts and cleanse your contact lenses properly to avoid infection.
  9. Practice workplace eye safety.
     

BostonSight Leading Institution of Scleral Contact Lens-related Articles

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On April 28, 2021, an analysis in Contact Lens and Anterior Eye listed BostonSight as the leading institution of scleral contact lens-related articles.  The analysis, titled “Bibliometric analysis of the literature relating to scleral contact lenses,” was written by Nathan Efron, Lyndon W. Jones, Phillip B. Morgan, and Jason J. Nichols.

The analysis shows the number of scleral lens papers published each year over the past century. After a publication in 1888, “there was a 44-year hiatus in the scleral lens literature until William Feinbloom published a paper on the topic in 1932…” and “few papers were written on scleral lenses until 2007, from which time there has been a steady increase in the number of publications, peaking at 61 papers in 2020.”

BostonSight is listed as #1 in the list of the 10 most impactful institutions in the field of scleral contact lenses ranked by h-SCL-index, with 29 total papers.

Read the analysis at DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clae.2021.101447

Image from Appendix A. Supplementary data.