White River Jct., VT - May 2008 Chadwick Optical, Inc. is excited to announce the introduction of a line of visual aids for the hemianopic population. Hemianopia is a visual condition associated with stroke, TBI (traumatic brain injury) or tumor where the patient is blinded in either the right or the left sides of both eyes. This condition causes difficulty in mobility.

The May 2008 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology reported the findings of the 2004-2005 clinical trial testing these mobility aids; the "EP"-Horizontal, or the Peli Lens™. Entitled "Community-Based Trial of a Peripheral Prism Visual Field Expansion Device for Hemianopia" the findings reported 74% of subjects continued to wear the aids at the end of the study, and 47% were still wearing them at 12 month follow up. These aids expand the field of Hemianopes 20 degrees using high power prisms oriented in a unique configuration developed by Dr. Eli Peli of the Schepens Eye Research Institute in 2000.

A new clinical trial is currently underway to test an improved version of the aid which expands the visual field to 30 degrees. Details of where hemianopes may participate in the new study are available at www.clinicaltrials.gov (clinical trial NCTO0494676).

Chadwick Optical, Inc. is a world leader in the design and manufacture of custom ophthalmic lenses for the visually impaired. See www.chadwickoptical.com.