4 common eye problems

To protect our precious vision, we must take the necessary precautions. Working Mom asked Asian Eye Institute’s chief optometrist Dr. Jesse Caguioa and comprehensive ophthalmologist Dr. Norman Eric Fajardo about common vision problems and the best remedies for these.











Eyestrain
    Causes: Prolonged use of digital devices, reading, and other tedious visual tasks.
    Symptoms: Tired eyes, with accompanying headache or dizziness, blurred distance vision.
    Rx: Take frequent breaks— close your eyes or look at a distance to relax your eyes.

Dry eyes

    Causes: Lack of sleep, prolonged reading or computer work, exposure to wind, electric fan or air conditioning.
    Symptoms: Sensation of a foreign body in the eye, gritty irritation, redness, itchiness.
    Rx: Dr. Fajardo advises applying warm compress, getting enough sleep, using lubricating drops, and avoiding allergic triggers like cigarette smoke.

Red eyes

    Causes: Eye fatigue, severe dryness, infection, allergy.
    Symptom: Bloodshot eyes.
    Rx: Dr. Fajardo doesn’t advise using vasoconstrictors (redness relievers) because it can mask symptoms of certain illnesses.

Pseudomyopia

    Cause: Prolonged use of digital devices.
    Symptoms: Headache, sudden nearsightedness, blurring of distance vision.
    Rx: Pseudomyopia vanishes after relaxing your eyes. If symptoms persist, consult your eye doctor.

EYEGLASS DO'S AND DON'TS

The perfect eyeglass frame allows people to see the real you. Dr. Sarabia shares some do’s and don’ts:

Do's

    Do try eyeglasses on before buying.
    Do wear shapes that slant upwards (cat’s eye glasses) if you are past the age of 45. (Read: instant facelift!)

Don'ts
    Don’t wear gold frames if you want to look younger.
    Don’t wear oversized frames if your face is small. Aviators can be aging because it pulls your face down.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

What your heavy menstrual bleeding could be telling you

“Filipino or Asian women think that because menstrual blood makes up a lot of dirty blood, the more blood you lose the better,” says Dr. Delfin Tan, who heads the section of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in St. Luke’s Medical Center, Quezon City during the product launch of Qlaira at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

“In the Philippines, clinical experience indicates a significant increase in the prevalence of heavy menstrual bleeding but this has not been given serious attention,” continues Dr. Tan.

That is why Bayer through its latest offering, an oral contraceptive estradiol valerate/dienogest or Qlaira^® brings to mind a way to significantly reduce Heavy Menstrual Bleeding (HMB), or what used to be called dysfunctional uterine bleeding and menorrhagia (two different terms).

If you worry about your menses going too quick, you need not worry as that is not HMB. Dr. Tan shares, “You can have two menses in a month as long as the interval from the first day to the next menstruation is 24 days. You can go through a month without menstruating because the interval could be as long as 38 days.”

Dr. Ian Milsom, a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology from Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden says.“If you want to check very easily if you have HMB, there are two simple questions you can ask yourself.”

1. Do you get up at night to change your sanitary protection? If you do then you are most likely to have HMB.
2. How many sanitary pads do you use during your period? If you’re soaking every hour then it’s likely you have HMB.

HMB is common during the start of the fertile age or those beginning their menses at age 12 and 13. It is, however, more common in women aged 35 to 45.

Risks

Studies have estimated that up to 52 percent of women experience HMB at some point in their lives.In clinical practices, the prevalence of HMB is likely to be underestimated as only a minority of women seek medical advice for this condition.

However, those who fail to seek medical attention may not see the risks that they are putting themselves in. A woman who has HMB, says Dr. Milsom, “is very likely to have anemia, and become very tired and not have the normal strength, this is why it influences working performance. It is also emotionally stressful to have this menstrual bleeding. It’s an economic bleeding because you have to use more sanitary protection. It’s an economic burden to society because it means that you are away from work.”

“Heavy menstrual bleeding is a common problem that can have a significant negative impact on a woman’s everyday activities. New analyses confirm that estradiol valerate/dienogest is an attractive treatment option for women with heavy menstrual bleeding,” said Dr. Milsom.

Netdoctor.com reports that (http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/menstruationheavy.htm) causes of heavy menstrual bleeding are the following:

• In younger women, heavy periods may be due to a temporary hormone imbalance, which eventually corrects itself.
• For women 45 years of age onwards, or those in the menopausal phase, heavy menstrual bleeding often indicates hormone imbalance. However, the possibility of heavy periods due to an underlying disease increases with age.
• Other medical conditions that may be indicated by heavy menstrual bleeding include fibroids, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, polyps on the lining of the womb, and a condition called dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB), which refers to heavy menstrual bleeding without any known reason.

Both Dr. Tan and Dr. Milsom agree that it’s time to see a gynecologist if the bleeding is disrupting daily activities and affecting one’s quality of life.

Interventions and oral contraceptives

Any interventions should aim to improve quality of life measures. According to Dr. Tan, when you go visit a doctor, your ob-gynecologist would be more concerned for tumors or infection, especially if you are of age. Also, there are drugs such as Qlaira available in the market today to treat HMB.

Qlaira is a combined contraceptive and an approved treatment for HMB. This is the first contraceptive that provides women with a non-invasive, short-acting treatment that preserves their reproductive health. It delivers estradiol, the same estrogen produced by a woman’s body.

Clinical trials show that Estradiol valerate/dienogest or Qlaira have helped reduced the blood flow by as much as 88 percent after treatment versus baseline. Reduction in HMB is a class effect, however oral contraceptives are typically known to reduce menstrual bleeding by 35-43%.

“What Qlaira could provide would be lighter bleeding, significantly shorter bleeding and spotting days for women. The preparation provides good cycle control, it is an effective contraceptive, and provides potentially fewer hormone side effects,” said Dr. Milsom.

source: interaksyon.com

Italy hospital conducts first fully robotic liver procedure

ROME - A medical transplant center on the Italian island of Sicily said Monday it had carried out the world's first partial liver transplant using only a robot to remove the organ of the donor.

According to a statement from the ISMETT transplant center in Palermo, only the arms of a robot entered the abdomen of the 44-year-old donor looking to save his 46-year-old brother suffering from cirrhosis of the liver.

Thanks to the robot, only five keyhole incisions and one nine-centimeter (3.5-inch) incision were required for the operation, the centre said.

"This is the first case in the world performed entirely and exclusively with the robotic technique," the center said.

The procedure, known as hepatectomy, was performed in March but the news was held until the recipient was given a clean bill of health and discharged from hospital, the centre said.

"In the past, some living donor liver transplants had been performed in the US using the robot," but were aided by a surgeon who inserted his hand through an incision to perform the surgery with the robot, the center said.

The procedure lasted 10 hours and the two brothers recovered well, with the donor leaving hospital after nine days and the recipient leaving a few weeks later.

The surgical first was carried out using the Da Vinci SHDI robotic surgical system, a multi-tentacled device conceived at the Robotic Surgery Center in Pisa.

"The use of new technologies in transplant surgery is extremely important since reducing trauma for patients may encourage living organ donations and increase the number of transplants," the centre said.

source: interaksyon.com

Botox ingredient has limited effect on headaches: study

NEW YORK - The main ingredient in Botox may be modestly helpful for people with chronic migraines, a new report suggests, but the wrinkle treatment doesn't seem to offer much relief for those whose headaches are less frequent.

Patients who started out having headaches almost daily reported two fewer headaches per month when they were given injections of botulinum toxin A. They also had more side effects, including weak muscles and a stiff neck.

The medication is marketed under multiple brands, but NEW YORK - The main ingredient in Botox may be modestly helpful for people with chronic migraines, a new report suggests, but the wrinkle treatment doesn't seem to offer much relief for those whose headaches are less frequent.

Patients who started out having headaches almost daily reported two fewer headaches per month when they were given injections of botulinum toxin A. They also had more side effects, including weak muscles and a stiff neck.

The medication is marketed under multiple brands, but Allergan's Botox is the best known. Botox is used to treat a range of conditions, including migraines and excessive sweating.

"The effect these appear to be having on migraine headaches is small -- it only reduces headaches by a couple of days a month," said Dr. Jeffrey Jackson, the study's lead researcher, from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

That's "really, really modest," he told Reuters Health.

Still, it's possible that some chronic migraine patients will benefit from injections much more than others, he said.

For their new analysis, he and his colleagues looked back at 27 studies in which more than 5,000 headache patients were randomly assigned to get botulinum toxin A injections in the head and neck or an injection of a drug-free placebo. The study was published on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The initial trials varied widely in their use of the drug, with researchers injecting the medication into any of four to 58 spots, either at a single time or at three different times a few months apart.

Most trials allowed patients to use other headache medication in addition to the injections.

Study participants with chronic headaches or chronic migraines initially reported having 17 to 20 headaches per month, on average. Twelve weeks or more after getting botulinum toxin A injections, that had dropped by an average of two monthly headaches, compared to patients getting the placebo.

In people with fewer migraines to begin with -- six per month, on average -- the drug injections didn't seem to provide any change in headache frequency. The findings were consistent regardless of patients' age as well as the botulinum toxin A dose and injection strategy used.

Impact still significant

About half of study participants experienced side effects during the trials. People randomly assigned to receive the active drug injections were 25 percent more likely to report any type of side effect. Muscle weakness was nine times more common in those patients, and neck pain or stiffness was reported three to five times more often than in the placebo groups.

Botox is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat chronic migraines -- but not for less-frequent "episodic" headaches, a spokesperson for Allergan noted.

Headache researcher Dr. Vincent Martin, from the University of Cincinnati, said doctors have known for years that Botox doesn't help people with less-frequent headaches -- and the new review "gives a more definitive conclusion" on that.

But given that Botox is the only FDA-approved treatment for chronic migraines -- the most disabling type of headache -- its effect in those patients is not insignificant, said Martin, who wasn't involved in the new study.

"It's a very important treatment for many people with chronic migraine -- not for everyone," he told Reuters Health.

The drug costs nearly $1,000 for the dose used in chronic migraine patients, and injections aren't typically covered by insurance, according to Jackson.

He said the study had no outside funding source and wasn't linked to any companies that make botulinum toxin A products.

Dr. Mitchell Brin, Allergan's Chief Scientific Officer for Botox, pointed out that previous studies have suggested people with chronic migraines who are prescribed the drug also tend to have shorter-lasting migraines on the days when they still have headaches.

The difference equaled about 40 fewer hours per month of pain, compared to patients given placebo injections, he said.

That's "quite meaningful," Brin told Reuters Health. "The impact on their lives is quite significant."

Martin agreed that doctors often take into account more than just headache frequency when they prescribe the injections.

"Just looking at headache days per month may not tell the whole story," he said.is the best known. Botox is used to treat a range of conditions, including migraines and excessive sweating.

"The effect these appear to be having on migraine headaches is small -- it only reduces headaches by a couple of days a month," said Dr. Jeffrey Jackson, the study's lead researcher, from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

That's "really, really modest," he told Reuters Health.

Still, it's possible that some chronic migraine patients will benefit from injections much more than others, he said.

For their new analysis, he and his colleagues looked back at 27 studies in which more than 5,000 headache patients were randomly assigned to get botulinum toxin A injections in the head and neck or an injection of a drug-free placebo. The study was published on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The initial trials varied widely in their use of the drug, with researchers injecting the medication into any of four to 58 spots, either at a single time or at three different times a few months apart.

Most trials allowed patients to use other headache medication in addition to the injections.

Study participants with chronic headaches or chronic migraines initially reported having 17 to 20 headaches per month, on average. Twelve weeks or more after getting botulinum toxin A injections, that had dropped by an average of two monthly headaches, compared to patients getting the placebo.

In people with fewer migraines to begin with -- six per month, on average -- the drug injections didn't seem to provide any change in headache frequency. The findings were consistent regardless of patients' age as well as the botulinum toxin A dose and injection strategy used.

Impact still significant

About half of study participants experienced side effects during the trials. People randomly assigned to receive the active drug injections were 25 percent more likely to report any type of side effect. Muscle weakness was nine times more common in those patients, and neck pain or stiffness was reported three to five times more often than in the placebo groups.

Botox is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat chronic migraines -- but not for less-frequent "episodic" headaches, a spokesperson for Allergan noted.

Headache researcher Dr. Vincent Martin, from the University of Cincinnati, said doctors have known for years that Botox doesn't help people with less-frequent headaches -- and the new review "gives a more definitive conclusion" on that.

But given that Botox is the only FDA-approved treatment for chronic migraines -- the most disabling type of headache -- its effect in those patients is not insignificant, said Martin, who wasn't involved in the new study.

"It's a very important treatment for many people with chronic migraine -- not for everyone," he told Reuters Health.

The drug costs nearly $1,000 for the dose used in chronic migraine patients, and injections aren't typically covered by insurance, according to Jackson.

He said the study had no outside funding source and wasn't linked to any companies that make botulinum toxin A products.

Dr. Mitchell Brin, Allergan's Chief Scientific Officer for Botox, pointed out that previous studies have suggested people with chronic migraines who are prescribed the drug also tend to have shorter-lasting migraines on the days when they still have headaches.

The difference equaled about 40 fewer hours per month of pain, compared to patients given placebo injections, he said.

That's "quite meaningful," Brin told Reuters Health. "The impact on their lives is quite significant."

Martin agreed that doctors often take into account more than just headache frequency when they prescribe the injections.

"Just looking at headache days per month may not tell the whole story," he said.

source: interaksyon.com

If you want a child, do it before you're 30, says leading obstetrician

TOKYO — When entertainers speak, the world listens, and one message they’re delivering lately is profoundly disturbing to at least one leading obstetrician – namely, that giving birth relatively late in life is okay. It’s not, Kyoto Medical University professor and infertility expert Nobuhiko Suganuma writes in Shukan Bunshun (April 12). Suganuma has a message of his own: “If you want children, have your first before you turn 30.”

The influence of celebrities on matters remote from their talents is a remarkable fact of life. When Mariko Shinoda of the girl band AKB48 mused in January about getting married around 40 or 50, Suganuma took notice – he could easily imagine young women listening starry-eyed and thinking, “Me too.”

Suganuma has been treating women for infertility since the dawn of the artificial insemination era more than 30 years ago. His own patients over the years number some 5,000. He has seen the numbers soar nationwide during those decades – and no wonder, he says. Ovaries, wombs and hormones, in his view, are in prime condition before 30. A first childbirth then can prolong the reproductive peak, but starting after 30 “entails risks” – of Down’s Syndrome or other diseases in the child at worst, of miscarriage, or simply of infertility. “There are no firm statistics,” he writes, “but the rising number of women marrying late and then being unable to conceive is an undeniable fact.” Moreover, “the success rate of infertility treatment starts dropping at age 30 and plunges past 35.”

Entertainers whose own highly public lives have popularized late marriage and childbirth include the model Rika, who had her first child at 38; Shoko Aida, formerly of the pop duo Wink (41); actress Koyuki (35); and comedian-actress Naomi Matsushima (40).

For a woman of a certain age who is aware of the risks and decides to proceed with pregnancy anyway, “that’s a matter of individual freedom,” writes Suganuma. The problem, he claims, is that many are not aware of the risks.

Liberal-Democratic Party Lower House lawmaker Seiko Noda was 50 when she gave birth a year ago through artificial insemination. Her son Masaki has been hospitalized ever since with serious medical problems. Suganuma in his Shukan Bunshun article quotes Noda as saying, “No one ever told me that having a child after 40 could be difficult.”

Every year, says Suganuma, the number of women giving birth past age 35 is rising. In 1985, late births (not necessarily first-time births) comprised approximately 7% of the total. By 2010 they accounted for 23.8%.

“Japanese sex education,” he writes, “is all about birth control. Of course, it’s important for teenagers to know how to prevent unwanted pregnancies. But it seems to me it also needs to be taught that under 30 is the most suitable time of life for women to begin giving birth.”

source: japantoday.com

Discrimination in the US medical industry

In recent years, blatant instances of discrimination against Filipinos in the medical industry have come to light. Some of the highly publicized cases have come to light and they happened all across the country – including one on nationwide TV.

In San Francisco, Sutter California Pacific Medical Center was sued by the California Nurses Association (CNA), which found that Filipino Registered Nurses (RNs) were being discriminated against per the medical center’s hiring practices.

The medical center’s management reportedly instructed supervisors specifically not to hire people of Filipino origin; this was an order that was put into effect between 2006 and 2008.

According to a CNA press release, “Before February 2008, 65 percent of St. Luke’s RNs were Filipino.

After February 2008, only 10 percent of RNs hired were Filipino.” How the center got away with its crooked hiring practices for so long is a question not yet answered.

In Baltimore, four Filipino nurses — Corina Yap, Anna Rosales, Hazel Granada and Hachelle Natano — brought a wrongful-termination lawsuit against their employer, Bon Secours Health System.

The nurses, who won their case, claimed that the hospital fired them for speaking their native language, i.e. Tagalog, at the hospital.

In November of 2009, a policy was enacted at the medical center in Baltimore that required all medical personnel to speak only English in the workplace.

According to an ABS-CBN North America News Bureau report, US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Director Gerald Kiel “concluded that the Filipina nurses were subjected to ‘unequal terms and conditions of employment, [a] hostile work environment, [and] disciplinary action and discharge because of their national origin.’”

As in Baltimore, the EEOC filed a complaint in 2010 against the Delano Regional Medical Center in California for its English-only policy in the work place.

The complaint states that the hospital created a “hostile working environment” for Filipino nurses.

Talk about art imitating life. ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” ran an episode in which a main character, played by Teri Hatcher, makes a blatant discriminatory remark about Filipino doctors.

After being told by her doctor that she may be going through menopause, the doubting character’s response is: “Can I just check those diplomas because I just want to make sure that they are not from some med school in the Philippines.”

These instances of discrimination raise the most important question: When will the discrimination stop?

If you’ve endured discrimination at your health care job and are still employed, here is what you should do (If you’ve been fired, skip to step 4):

1. Act now. There is a statute of limitations on when you may file your legal complaint. If you wait too long, even if you are completely in the right, the law can do nothing to rectify the situation.

2. Inform your supervisor of the discrimination you incurred; give dates and all relevant details.

3. If no action is taken, file a complaint per your company’s complaint procedures.

4. If nothing is done to rectify your situation, you must act quickly to notify proper authorities. File a complaint with the EEOC.

5. Track everything you can on paper. Make copies of your complaints, track which dates you sent them, write down the date/s you were discriminated against as well as the details of the circumstances. Make notes of phone calls, conversations, and so on. Keep and print emails.

6. Be careful of what you say, and to whom you say things to.

7. Seek a lawyer to see if you have a workplace discrimination case. - The FilAm

source: gmanetwork.com