“Routine screening for glaucoma in African American individuals is a potentially clinically effective and economical method to reduce the burden of glaucoma-related visual impairment and blindness, though its absolute benefit is likely to be modest,” researchers concluded in a study reported in the March issue of Archives of Ophthalmology. Such a screening program for black patients in their 50s, without known glaucoma, would reduce the lifetime prevalence of undiagnosed glaucoma from 50% to 27%, the researchers estimated.

About two-thirds of Americans don’t know that omega-3 fatty acids or lutein are involved in eye health. Nine out of 10 Americans aren’t aware of the role of zeaxanthin in eye health. That’s why Americans need nutritional guidelines to make better choices for their eye health, according to a panel of experts assembled by the Ocular Nutrition Society, and sponsored by Bausch + Lomb. “We support new efforts to develop such guidelines as well as subsequent educational initiatives designed to raise awareness of these recommendations among public and professional audiences,” the panel members wrote in a consensus statement.

A protein called cochlin, found in the trabecular meshwork, is at the heart of a newly discovered process of IOP regulation in glaucoma, according to Bascom Palmer researchers. In the April 4 issue of PLoS ONE, they report that cochlin plays a role in mechanical stimuli at the cellular level—a process called mechanosensing.