The ophthalmologist’s elbow: a potentially painful point of contact

Three months ago I leant, in the customary manner, on the box of my indirect lens at the slit lamp to examine a patient’s fundus. An acute and severe pain in the tip of my elbow immediately interrupted me. I...

Patient and public participation shapes biomedical research and access priorities in eye health

Patients, clinicians and clinician-scientists play a valuable role in shaping the future of vision research. Limited funding demands targeted research initiatives that ultimately will shape health policy and practice to secure progress in improving patient outcomes in eye health. This...

Complex Biometry Clinics: a new service development

In this article we describe a new local service development, the ‘Complex Biometry Clinic’ at Leicester Royal Infirmary. Retrospective data analysis of patients referred between October 2012 and October 2013 was performed. The aim was to provide a one-stop service...

A look into the IOL space

Advances in the design and performance of intraocular lenses (IOLs) continue to be driven by demand for better outcomes, presbyopia correction and spectacle independence, alongside a better understanding of the dynamics of the crystalline lens, newer theories of accommodation and...

Changing the post cataract surgery review pathway – is patient safety compromised?

Cataract surgery continues to be the most commonly performed elective surgical procedure in the UK, with an annual rate of approximately 4150/100,000 people over the age of 65 accounting for a significant proportion of the surgical workload of most ophthalmologists...

Is lens constant optimisation for IOLMaster indispensable in order to achieve a good refractive outcome?

A study of refractive outcomes following cataract surgery was carried out with the aim of comparing the postoperative refractive outcomes against Royal College of Ophthalmologists standards and to determine the extent of association between accuracy of intraocular lens (IOL) power...

Comic leaflets: an innovative method of patient education

Nowadays almost everyone has been exposed to comics, especially during childhood. In a way, this is a natural form of progression from children’s story books, which also contain words and pictures. This exposure has helped us to develop the graphic...

An eyeful of independence

Scots will decide this September whether or not Scotland should be an independent sovereign state. “As all key areas of our business are already fully devolved, it’s very much business as usual for us,” noted a spokesperson for Healthcare Improvement...

What to expect when meeting a statistician

There are a growing number of statisticians working closely with ophthalmologists. They have different training but they are driven by the same goal: to perform high quality evidence based clinical research [1,2]. In a perfect world we would simply conduct...

NICE drugs: an update on what’s good to go

Treatment options recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) must be readily available for use in the NHS of England and Wales. This article provides an overview of recent guidance from NICE and summary advice issued...

Innovations in ophthalmology: what can the innovations of the past teach us about tomorrow?

BUOS Prize Essay – 2nd prize winner for 2013 submissions Introduction An essay titled Innovations in Ophthalmology might choose to focus on the history; from cataract couching to femtosecond lasers, ophthalmology has had no shortage of topics worthy of discussion....

Guide to Gaining Approval for a Clinical Study

This article focuses on gaining approval for clinical research involving NHS patients, although the principles can be applied to other types of research. The intention is to give an overview of the requirements for setting up a research study, but...