Visual therapy or eye exercise, which is widely used in behavioral optometry, has been
successfully helping some visual disorders, especially binocular vision problem. In Bates System of Eye Exercise, it is claimed that eye exercise can restore vision with refractive error by completely relaxing the eyes. One of the ways to relax the eyes is by wearing the pinhole glasses as the pinhole placed before the eyes will help to relax accommodation and temporarily improving vision by reducing the size of blur circle. Pinhole glasses have been marketed as a visual therapy device, with the claim that continuous use of these glasses will improve refractive error. Although only anecdotal evidences have been provided on the efficacy of this product, the society are still interested to use the pinhole glasses and believe that their vision could be improved by simply wearing this device. Aim: The purpose of this study was to compare the refractive error of
myopic participants before and after wearing the pinhole glasses for 3 weeks. Methodology: Fifteen
participants were recruited in this study and all of the participants wore the pinhole glasses while performing near works for 20 minutes/day, anytime from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. everyday for 3 weeks. Results: The refractive error before and after the intervention was then being compared and the results showed that there was no significant difference in refractive error of both right (p= 0.08) and left eyes (p= 0.09) of myopic participants before and after wearing the pinhole glasses. Conclusion: Our results suggest that pinhole glasses did not improve the refractive error of myopic participants.
This study aimed to evaluate the short-term efficacy of artificial tears (AT) instillation on tear film quality and quantity utilising two dual polymer artificial tears; Systane Hydration preservative (SH) and non-preservative (SHUD) in 60 minutes observation period compared to normal saline. Materials and methods: One hundred eyes of 50 participants involved in this prospective, double-masked randomised study. Viscosity and pH of both AT were evaluated using Rheometer and digital pH-meter respectively prior to tear film characteristics assessment. Tear break-up time (TBUT) and tear meniscus height (TMH) were measured at baseline, 5, 15 and 60 minutes after instillation. Tear ferning pattern (TFP) were compared between baseline and 60 minutes after instillation. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to evaluate the effects of both AT instillation. Independent T-test was employed to compare between the two groups (SH vs SHUD) for each specific time-interval. P-value of 0.05 was set as the level of significance. Results: The viscosity of SH and SHUD was 0.0267Pa.s and 0.03273Pa.s respectively with pH of 7.85 for SH and 7.74 for SHUD. Both AT showed significant increment in TBUT between baseline and 15 minutes (SH: 5.82 ± 1.063, p = 0.01; SHUD: 6.02 ± 0.979, p
Introduction: Short-term fasting may influence intraocular pressure (IOP) due to alteration of fluid (total body water;
TBW, and water intake) and fat (total body fat; TBF). This study aimed: i) to compare IOP values within and between,
fasting and non-fasting periods; and ii) to assess the association between IOP and, TBW and TBF. Methods: Thirty
healthy participants aged 21.8±1.1 years were assessed on two different periods (fasting vs. non-fasting). During each
period, the IOP, TBW and TBF values were assessed for four times (morning, afternoon, evening, late-evening). The
IOP was measured using AccuPen® tonopen, while TBW and TBF were assessed by using a Tanita body composition
analyser. Results: During fasting, the IOP value in the afternoon (14.53±2.33 mmHg) was significantly higher than in
the evening (12.43±2.73 mmHg, p=0.009) and late-evening (12.60±2.44 mmHg, p=0.003). No significant difference
in IOP was observed during non-fasting period. The mean of IOP in the evening was significantly lower during fasting
compared to non-fasting (12.43±2.73 mmHg vs 13.75±2.53 mmHg, p=0.044). The IOP and TBW were negatively
correlated (r=-0.268; p=0.011) during non-fasting and showed no association during fasting period. There was no
significant correlation between IOP and TBF during both fasting and non-fasting periods. Conclusion: IOP reduction
during short-term fasting, together with the no association with TBF and TBW suggested that IOP is an independent
factor that reduces during fasting in healthy population.