Cancer Research UK says that it has become essential to introduce plain packaging,   banning cigarette machine sales and to checkout displays for tobacco marketing as more and more youngsters inclined to smoking. The UK government is considering the measures suggested by the charity.

According to Cancer Research UK, its lobbying has been renewed after Stirling University research report that showed a considerable influence of tobacco marketing on teens. The study showed that almost half of teenagers knew about the checkout marketing.

The researchers noted that the possibility of a youngster to be inclined to smoking increased up to 35 percent for every brand they knew about.

continue reading Cancer Research UK calls to ban tobacco marketing

WHAT IS LASER EYE SURGERY?

Refractive or Laser Eye Surgery (LES) is a laser reshaping of cornea thus changing its focusing power (1), (pictures 1,2). For patients with moderate refractive errors this ambulatory procedure is a quick way to get free of glasses or contact lenses.

Picture 1. Eye doctor performing laser eye surgery
(source: whmc.af.mil)

COST OF LASER EYE SURGERY 

The cost of LES can vary widely but it is rarely under $1,000 per eye (2).

REFRACTIVE ERRORS TO CORRECT WITH LES

The light from an observed object penetrates through the cornea, lens and viscose liquid of the eye globe, refracts, and focuses on retina as an image. In farsightedness - hyperopia the eye globe is too short, and since the lens cannot refract the light from near objects enough, the light will fall behind retina and give a blurred image. In presbyopia (farsightedness of the aged) the lens becomes rigid and cannot refract the light from near objects efficiently, so it will  again focus behind the retina. In nearsightedness (myopia), the eye globe is too long and light from distant objects will focus in front of the retina, so images of distant objects will be blurred. In astigmatism blurred vision is caused by irregularities in the corneal or lens shape (3). All mentioned refractive errors can be corrected with laser eye surgery.

continue reading Corrective Laser Eye Surgery