Ovarian hormones drive onset of Sjogren’s disease in mice
Sjogren’s syndrome (SS) is a debilitating, sight-threatening, systemic autoimmune disease with no effective treatment available. SS is characterised by lacrimal gland lymphocytic infiltration and epithelial cell death, as well as by the presence of serum autoantibodies. Patients have severe dry...
Do topical steroids improve visual outcome in the treatment of bacterial keratitis?
The use of topical corticosteroids as an adjunctive treatment to antibiotics in the management of bacterial keratitis remains a controversial issue. The results of the Steroids for Corneal Ulcers Trial (SCUT) – a randomised, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial that recruited patients...
Squamous metaplasia of conjunctival epithelial cells with soft contact lens wear versus non-lens wearers
Conjunctiva is composed of non-squamous epithelial cells interspersed with goblet cells, which is a secretory epithelium. Squamous metaplasia is a transformation to non-secretory epithelium, ‘keratinised’ and enlargement of the conjunctival non-goblet cells and relatively shrunken nuclei are seen on impression...
Accelerated (9mW/cm2) corneal collagen cross-linking for keratoconus
This is one of many studies published / to be published on corneal collagen cross-linking that has a treatment time of 10 minutes compared to the previous Dresden protocol of 30 minutes to halt progression of keratoconus. Much has changed...
Inhibiting high-risk corneal allografts
The cornea is an immune privileged site and as such corneal transplants are very successful. However, in situations where this privilege is lost the failure rises substantially. To combat rejection inhibition of the immune responses depends on steroids and other...
Effect of preservative free fluoroquinolones on human corneal epithelial cells in vitro
Fluoroquinolones, including second generation (ofloxacin and ciprofloxacin), third generation (levofloxacin and tosufloxacin) and fourth generation (gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin), are a group of bactericidal agents used to treat multiple ocular infections. The third and fourth generation fluoroquinolones have enhanced Gram-positive activity...
Neurotrophic keratitis
The authors present an overview of the aetiology, diagnosis, current and future management options of neurotrophic keratitis. This is a degenerative corneal disease that occurs following the compromise of trigeminal innervation, leading to hypoesthesia and / or anaesthesia. The aetiology...
Adjunctive topical 5-FU vs. MMC for surgically excised, localised OSSN
Ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN) comprises a range of dysplasia including corneal-conjunctival intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive squamous cell carcinoma. The traditional treatment for localised non-invasive OSSN has been surgical excision with or without intraoperative cryotherapy. Postoperative adjunctive topical chemotherapy significantly...
Outcomes of corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) in pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (PBK)
This was a retrospective non-comparative, interventional case series of 50 eyes in 50 patients with symptomatic PBK who underwent CXL (epithelium-off). Central corneal thickness (CCT), pain score, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and corneal transparency were recorded at baseline; at...
Topography based keratoconus progression after corneal collagen cross-linking
Case 1 describes a 35-year-old man with progressive keratoconus (PK). His best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was right 20/80 (-5.25/-7.75 x 85) and left 20/20 (+4.75/-5.00 x 90). His Ks were right 36.32/48.02 D and 41.15/46.41 D. Right central cornea...
Pterygium ocular surface temperature
This prospective study investigated the ocular surface temperature in patients with pterygia compared to those with dry and healthy eyes respectively. Previous studies have shown that patients with dry eyes show a significant decrease in ocular surface temperature on sustained...
Allergic conjunctivitis evaluation by thermography
Thermography is a non-invasive imaging technique, which uses infrared radiation reflected from an object to estimate the temperature of the object. This paper evaluates the use of thermography to assess allergic conjunctivitis objectively, by using an instrument called ocular surface...