Trainees
Digital eyecare – enabling better communication between primary and secondary care
Alexander Chiu and his co-authors highlight innovations influencing healthcare advancement and how trainees can get involved. Hospital eye services (HES) were under great pressure to meet demand, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. This pressure has increased with the cancellation and...
Should it be a mandatory requirement for medical students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to attend clinical attachments?
The vast majority of medical students have positive attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine for themselves and patients, however, what about the small inevitable minority who resist it? Should they be prevented from attending clinical attachments in the NHS? It is...
Proning and the pandemic - ocular complications seen in critical care
Priyanka Sanghi and her co-authors explore the ocular complications seen in critical care units throughout the country as we treat patients through this challenging time. The SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed the NHS and critical care services under immense strain,...
Understanding vasoproliferative retinal tumours
Syed Irtiza Ali Shah explores this rare and unusual condition through a fascinating case presentation. Vasoproliferative tumours of the retina (VPTR) are a vascular mass with an associated exudative retinopathy alongside the presence of minimally dilated feeder vessels. This is...
The adverse effects of COVID-19 on undergraduate ophthalmology education: An opportunity to reform ophthalmology training
The steady erosion of undergraduate ophthalmology teaching, which has been acutely exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, has led to a lack of basic ophthalmology examining skills and knowledge amongst clinicians of other specialities. Concurrently, there has been a rise in...
Will COVID-19 impact the selection of ophthalmology as a career choice by medical students?
The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on medical education and has called for large shifts in the medical curriculum. Clinical attachments were suspended at the height of the pandemic and examinations were cancelled or were moved to an online...
Cancer associated retinopathy
Abdul Muhyemin Tarin reviews the presentation, pathophysiology and management of this paraneoplastic syndrome. Case presentation A 60-year-old hypermetropic female patient presented with several months’ history of painless blurred vision. Visual acuity (VA) was 6/24 and 6/9-1 in right and left...
The fragile p-value
Abdus Samad Ansari explores the limitation of the p-value and the application of the fragility index in clinical trials. Clinical trials and tribulations? The restoration of vision or more purely the gift of sight is an aspect of care that...
‘Getting a head start’: ways medical students can boost their chances of entering ophthalmology training
Ophthalmology is one of the most competitive medical specialities in the UK, with 3.74 applicants per place in 2018 [1]. Given the competitive nature of this highly specialised field, medical students who are interested in pursuing a career in ophthalmology...
The paediatric cataract: an overview of the diagnosis and management
In this second article (see first article here), Samuel Aryee and Rhys Dumont Jones review the challenges involved in managing this condition. Examination and diagnosis Cataracts in children can appear in a variety of forms, each presenting in a different...
Radiation retinopathy
The authors review the current treatment options for this condition. Radiation retinopathy (RR) occurs as a complication after exposure to any type of radiation (external beam, plaque brachytherapy and stereotactic radiosurgery) in the orbital or adnexal region. These include nasopharyngeal...
Thermal injury and false eyelashes
The authors provide a case of cyanoacrylate glue causing a thermal burn on the eyelid and explain how this type of burn should be managed. The use of false lashes as well as the techniques used to apply them come...
