New Role for an Eye Tooth: Sight Again
September 16, 2009 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
We’ve all heard about eye teeth, but have you ever heard of a tooth helping someone regain their sight? Without a doubt, the story sounds incredible, but it’s true.
Sixty-year-old Sharron “Kay” Thornton became blind in both eyes after contracting a rare illness, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, nine years earlier. The damage to the cornea from scarring left doctors unable to try more traditional treatment, like cornea transplants. Doctors tried a stem cell procedure but that was unsuccessful.
As a last ditch attempt to help Kay regain her vision, eye surgeons decided to try a relatively rare procedure called a modified osteo-odonto-keatroprosthesis. Only 600 …read more
August Is Cataract Awareness Month
August 1, 2009 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
August is Cataract Awareness Month – a month when eye care professionals hope to spread the word of the causes of cataracts, the prevention and the treatments.
Have you ever seen an eye with a cataract? Cataracts don’t just affect people, but many cats and dogs develope them as they age too. Cataracts happen with the lens of the eye becomes clouded, obstructing vision. Did you know that cataracts are the leading cause of blindness throughout the world?
Cataracts are often considered an older person’s problem. It’s estimated that half of all people 80 years or older have at least one …read more
Diabetes Stroke And Heart Attack
February 18, 2009 by jody
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
My sister married when I was 8 years old, her husband was like another father to me. Don was my hero he was always so full of life and included me in his mad adventures, with his children.
Don was over six feet three inches tall and weighed about 240, he was always outdoors, his only faults were smoking and eating fatty foods. He was never sick so there was no need to go to the doctor, so he thought.
Imagine our surprise when we found that he was an extremely ill man with diabetes.
He fought a good fight in every …read more




