Week in review: Botched surgery, shoebox-sized scanner, ASCRS president

A weekly roundup of ophthalmic news from around the web.

An Instagram model paid the ultimate price to change her eye color from hazel to light grey. Nadinne Bruna, 32, shelled out $3,000 to have silicone plates implanted in front of her iris, but the procedure ended up costing her much more: 80% of vision in her right eye and 50% in her left eye. Daily Mail

Glaucoma expert Thomas W. Samuelson, MD, took the reins this month as the 33^rd president of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS). Samuelson is an attending surgeon and founding partner of Minnesota Eye Consultants, and an adjunct professor of ophthalmology at the University of Minnesota. Healio

Canadian engineer Marinko Sarunic says his shoebox-sized retinal scanner (shown above) can capture high-resolution, 3-D, cross-sectional images of the tissue in a level of detail that rivals images from much larger scanners. Dr. Eduardo Navajas, a vitreoretinal specialist who tested the device for 8 months, says the scanner eliminates the need for—and the complications from—the injected dye used with fluorescein angiography, the current gold-standard imaging technique. EurekAlert!

A genetically modified cornea could help prevent graft rejection, according to a report in the journal Human Gene Therapy. Researchers say a donor cornea engineered to express 2 genes that prevent new blood vessel formation can reduce the risk of tissue rejection in a high-risk rabbit model. The therapy is called OXB-202. EurekAlert!

An Indianapolis retirement community recently honored the work of a color-blind artist with late-stage AMD. Ralph Rancourt, 95, began drawing black and white portraits of pets, family members and 20th-century presidents around the time that he was declared legally blind in his left eye. Seven years later, he lost vision in his right eye (also from AMD) and had to pack up his pencils, but his art lives on. Current