on the net
This site offers information on glaucoma care

Prevent Blindness America and Allergan Inc. have recently teamed up in a broad-based sight-saving effort called Protect Vision -- an initiative dedicated to ensuring that eyecare professionals have access to the latest findings and information regarding glaucoma and glaucoma care. The goal is for eyecare professionals to use Protect Vision as a resource to help educate patients and to improve the care and management of the disease.

The Protect Vision initiative has several elements, including a public awareness campaign, but one element that's immediately accessible to ophthalmologists is the interactive Web site www.protectvision.org.

This easy-to-navigate site is specifically designed for eyecare providers, with links to continuing medical education courses that can be taken online, a library of landmark glaucoma studies, and updated news related to glaucoma and other sight-threatening conditions.

The site also offers a number of downloadable, educational tools that ophthalmologists can give to glaucoma patients and their families. These tools are available in English and Spanish, and include:

• a glaucoma checklist that covers the primary risk factors for developing glaucoma
• a glaucoma quiz that tests patients' knowledge of glaucoma and helps them ascertain their risk of vision loss
• information about the many medications used to treat glaucoma by lowering IOP
• glaucoma Medicare benefits information
• information about signs of eye problems in adults
• tips for patients on taking eye drop medications.

The site will soon offer an interactive forum through which eyecare providers can exchange information with colleagues and share ideas on improving the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma.

For information on glaucoma that can help both you and your patients, log on to www.protectvision.org.

Visit: www.protectvision.org

If you've discovered a Web site or service that's been useful to you in practice or at home, we'd like to know about it. E-mail Jerry Helzner at helznergi@boucher1.com or call him at (215) 643-8013.