When looking at a near target, such as text on a page (or a phone), the eyes converge so that both are fixating on the object of regard. Convergence Insufficiency, in which the two eyes struggle to maintain fixation together on a near target, is a reasonably common condition in childhood and a cause of double vision, blur at near, and reading difficulty. It has often been treated using vision therapy.

This international annual global day of awareness was started in 2000 by Lions Club International, and aims to be a call to action for governments and NGOs, as well as individuals.

Most people having surgery to remove cataracts have been wearing glasses for years by the time their cataracts start to affect vision. Many are well used to glasses by then and ambivalent about wearing them, but an increasing number of people hope to have a degree of independence from glasses.

Recently the NSW State Government came under fire for regulating “eyeball tattooing”. In this form of body modification tattoo ink is injected under the conjunctiva to colour the sclera. A tattoo artist, Luna Cobra, claims to have invented the procedure, and to have performed it on around 10 Australians.

There has been a lot of recent discussion in the media about concerns that myopia (short-sightedness) may be increasing among children. Parents are often concerned whether or not they can do something to reduce the chance of their children becoming myopic, or reduce their myopic progression if they already are myopic.

Vaccination is not new technology (Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796), but it is unquestionably amongst the greatest developments of medical science. Before being wiped out in 1979, smallpox is estimated to have killed 300-500 million people worldwide in the first 79 years of the 20th century.