Ophthalmology
Is optician led service an answer to ever increasing demand on eye emergency clinics?
The demand for eye casualty appointments has been steadily increasing in the UK, leading to pressures on the hospital emergency services. The incidence of presentations to eye casualty services has been estimated at 20-30 per 1000 per year [1]. Evidence...
Clinical and management strategies in glaucoma practice: perspectives from international glaucoma specialists
Management options and outcomes in glaucoma practice were reviewed at the 7th Moorfields International Glaucoma Symposium, held in London on 24 January 2015. This article summarises perspectives from international glaucoma specialists on debated issues in topical therapy, glaucoma surgery, diagnostic...
What’s next in retinal imaging? Faster, deeper and full-on
Fast-evolving technological leaps are opening the way toward clinically useful ocular coherence angiography, generating 3-dimensional microvasculature maps without intravenous dye injection, as well as whole-eye imaging, handheld patient-operated optical coherence tomography (OCT) devices and, for challenging vitreoretinal procedures, integrated intraoperative...
Myasthenia gravis presenting with isolated ptosis: a poorly studied subgroup
Investigation into the cause of one isolated symptom or sign can be challenging if that particular sign may be caused by a variety of pathological processes, affecting different tissues, and presenting to different specialties. Unilateral ptosis is a case in...
A paradigm shift in the way we approach cataract surgery
Cataract surgery is the most common elective surgical procedure in the UK [1], with in the region of 350,000 cases being conducted each year. With an ageing population, this figure will only continue to rise over time. Cataract surgery is...
Shifting the paradigm of managing patients in medical retina: how real-world data can help us to improve clinical practice
The ophthalmic subspecialty of ‘medical retina’ has undergone dramatic changes in recent years. With the introduction of ranibizumab (Lucentis, Novartis), a specialty formerly dominated by laser-based therapies has been transformed to become, in large part, pharmacotherapy-based. To date, these pharmacotherapies...
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...
Retinopathy of prematurity treatment in the South West of England: long-term outcomes 1997-2008
Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a condition that affects the developing retinal vascular system of pre-term babies. If left untreated, ROP can lead to severe visual impairment. The severe visual impairment caused by untreated ROP can be prevented by screening...
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...
