Week in review: Star struck, gene fix, Cypass aftermath

A weekly roundup of ophthalmic news from around the web.

Recommendations for managing patients with an existing CyPass microstent are forthcoming from the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. The ASCRS has convened a task force to summarize findings from the COMPASS-XT study and associated research. They will detail the clinical implications of last month’s CyPass Micro-Stent withdrawal in a document expected to be released shortly. ASCRS

Years of sleeping in contact lenses finally caught up to Today show co-anchor Craig Melvin, who was diagnosed with a corneal ulcer last month. Melvin’s ophthalmologist repeatedly warned him not to sleep in the lenses, but the warnings didn’t sink in until the doctor compared the habit to wearing the same pair of underwear every day. “That was all I needed to hear,” Melvin says. Self, People

A Puerto Rican man with X-linked retinitis pigmentosa is the first U.S. patient to undergo gene therapy for the condition. A team led by Byron Lam, MD, at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami administered a single subretinal injection of AAV-XLRPGR, which introduces a functional copy of the affected RPGR gene. Investigators will assess the safety and tolerability of the gene therapy over the next year in the global phase 1/2 clinical trial. University of Miami Health System

Japanese scientists have unveiled a compact, lightweight, ultra-high-definition microscopic camera for ophthalmic surgery. The device shares 8K ultra-high-def images with surgical staff in real time and has a resolution of 7,680 × 4,320 pixels, according to a report this week in Clinical Ophthalmology. Based on the camera’s performance during cataract, glaucoma and vitreous surgeries on pig cadaver eyes, the team hopes to proceed to human trials soon. Dove Medical Press

CooperVision just released the 4-year outcomes of children prescribed the MiSight 1 Day contact lens to slow myopia progression. Similar to the 3-year findings reported last year, the data seem promising: “No other prospective randomized controlled study has offered conclusive data for such a high degree of continued efficacy in myopia management using a 1-day soft contact lens over 4 years,” the company reported in a press release. CooperVision