Refractive Eyecare | CURRENT | CLINICAL

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Alert: There Is More to the Retina than Sight

Those of us who are clinicians rather than vision scientists tend to equate the retina with rods, cones, and sight through the visual cortex. We know, for example, that when a patient has had a stroke in the visual cortex, there will be a homonymous defect in the visual field. Most of us are comfortable [...]

UPDATE Intracorneal Ring Segments for Keratoconus

Intracorneal ring segments can reshape ectatic corneas, staving off the need for keratoplasty and making previously contact-lens-intolerant patients capable of contact lens or spectacle correction. When it first occurred to me to use intracorneal ring segments in keratoconus patients, my thought was that since ring segments had been shown to flatten myopic corneas, they might [...]

Smartphones, Photons, and the Future of Eyecare

It may just be that I’m growing older, but it seems as if the pace of technology-driven change in eyecare continues to accelerate. Over a 30-year span, I have observed transitions in cataract surgery, from intracapsular to extracapsular, to phacoemulsification to small incision surgery, and, most recently, to femtosecond-laser assisted cataract removal. [...]

Will Crosslinking Play a Major Role in Vision Correction? – A Conversation with David Muller

Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Eye Health

Mounting evidence shows potential beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids in the maintenance of eye health and prevention and management of ocular diseases. Omega-3 fatty acids, including alpha linoleic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are a family of polyunsaturated essential fatty acids that all have a double bond at C3, the [...]

Axis Accuracy with Toric IOLs

Going forward, the biggest challenge with toric IOLs will be our ability to accurately determine the axis of corneal astigmatism. When toric intraocular lenses (IOLs) were first introduced, rotational stability after implantation was a major issue, with up to 25% of eyes experiencing more than 10 degrees of rotation.¹-3 This was a serious problem, as [...]

The Many Roles of Bandage Contact Lenses

Aggressive use of bandage contact lenses can speed healing and save patients from unnecessary pain. Bandage contact lenses serve a number of very useful functions. I use them to protect the cornea while healing in cases of recurrent erosion syndrome, painful bullous keratopathy, chronic epithelial defects (where no infection is present), and in multiple postoperative [...]

Ocriplasmin: A Nonsurgical Treatment for Vitreomacular Adhesions

Ocriplasmin, a new drug, appears to offer a safe, effective, nonsurgical method for inducing posterior vitreous detachment in patients with vitreomacular adhesion. Abnormal vitreomacular attachments (VMAs) occur when the vitreous gel adheres strongly to the retina in an atypical manner. [...]

To Avoid Remakes: Think Like a Tailor

Almost all dispensary remakes are the result of human error. Lowering the remake rate requires careful staff training and close adherence to protocols that catch and correct errors before they can affect the patient’s experience. [...]

NETRA: Emerging Mobile Health Technology for Eyecare

An innovative smartphone adaptation may bring portable, easy-to-use refractive evaluation to developing countries. Working with the Media Lab at MIT and the Informatics Institute at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil, our team has developed and are refining a device we call the Near-Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment (NETRA). [...]

Combination Drugs for Dry Eye

Despite the FDA’s reluctance to approve new agents for the treatment of dry eye disease, the last decade has brought a steady expansion of our options for treating ocular surface dryness. This has come from the development of highly advanced artificial tears, the adoption of drugs first approved for other indications (eg, azithromycin), and new [...]

Using Mitomycin-C to Prevent Haze following Surface Ablation

Used judiciously, Mitomycin-C can play an important role in eliminating the formation of haze following surface ablation. Thanks to better lasers and improved drug regimens—including the use of Mitomycin-C (MMC)—the haze (scarring) that arises months after PRK is both less frequently seen and less intense than it was in the early days of surface ablation. [...]

Generic vs Brand: What Do We Tell Our Patients?

For more than a decade I have prescribed Xalatan® (latanoprost ophthalmic solution) and other prostaglandin analogs on a regular basis. Thanks to their efficacy and lack of significant side effects, these drugs have made caring for glaucoma patients a rewarding experience. They are a far cry from the antihypertensive agents I started out with, like [...]

Generic Glaucoma Drugs: Are They Equivalent?

Generic medications are theoretically “equivalent” to their branded originals, but they can differ in ways that are often subtle and only revealed by their use in clinical practice. By law, a generic drug must have the same active and inactive ingredients, in the same proportions, as the branded original—in essence, the labels must be identical. [...]

Optimizing Vision for Athletes: Performance and Protection

Sports produce roughly 42,000 serious eye injuries in the United States each year, making eye safety an important consideration for athletes and those who prescribe their vision correction. In prescribing eyewear for athletes, I have two goals: I want to both optimize the patient’s vision and protect his or her eyes. In recommending eyewear, it [...]

Using Social Media as Part of a Total Online Strategy

Social media can be a very useful tool for engaging consumers—but it’s most effective when it’s part of a comprehensive online strategy. With the explosion of social media sites on the Internet, many ophthalmology practices are exploring social networking options to promote interaction with current and prospective patients. [...]

Demystifying Full Back-surface (FBS) Progressive Lens Design

Now is the time to clear the confusion and understand the benefits of FBS design. Very few practices—maybe as few as 10% or 15%—have embraced full back-surface (FBS) progressive lenses. And, only a small fraction of those go to the next level and offer the highest levels of customization that FBS designs make possible. [...]

UPDATE Intracorneal Ring Segments for Keratoconus

Smartphones, Photons, and the Future of Eyecare

Will Crosslinking Play a Major Role in Vision Correction? – A Conversation with David Muller

Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Eye Health

Axis Accuracy with Toric IOLs

The Many Roles of Bandage Contact Lenses

Ocriplasmin: A Nonsurgical Treatment for Vitreomacular Adhesions

To Avoid Remakes: Think Like a Tailor

Articles

Alert: There Is More to the Retina than Sight

by Robert C. Campbell, MD, Editor-in-Chief | January 2012

UPDATE Intracorneal Ring Segments for Keratoconus

by Joseph Colin, MD | January 2012

Intracorneal ring segments can reshape ectatic corneas, staving off the need for keratoplasty and making previously contact-lens-intolerant patients capable of contact lens or spectacle correction.

When it first occurred to me to use intracorneal ring segments in keratoconus patients, my thought was that since ring segments had been shown to flatten myopic corneas, they might do something similar in the more deformable keratoconic corneas.1

Smartphones, Photons, and the Future of Eyecare

by Robert C. Campbell, MD, Editor-in-Chief | December 2011

Will Crosslinking Play a Major Role in Vision Correction? – A Conversation with David Muller

by David Muller, PhD | December 2011

In the United States, collagen crosslinking has been thought of largely as a means of halting progression in keratoconus and other corneal ectasias. But David Muller, PhD, who as CEO of Summit Technology was a major figure in bringing the excimer laser to market two decades ago, has a much larger vision. Now CEO of Avedro, Inc., which is sponsoring some of the FDA collagen crosslinking trials, Muller believes that crosslinking has the potential to play a major role in LASIK and to eventually become a noninvasive refractive procedure entirely on its own.

Most Popular

Alert: There Is More to the Retina than Sight

UPDATE Intracorneal Ring Segments for Keratoconus

Smartphones, Photons, and the Future of Eyecare

Will Crosslinking Play a Major Role in Vision Correction? – A Conversation with David Muller

Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Eye Health

Axis Accuracy with Toric IOLs

The Many Roles of Bandage Contact Lenses

Ocriplasmin: A Nonsurgical Treatment for Vitreomacular Adhesions

To Avoid Remakes: Think Like a Tailor

NETRA: Emerging Mobile Health Technology for Eyecare

Combination Drugs for Dry Eye

Using Mitomycin-C to Prevent Haze following Surface Ablation

Generic vs Brand: What Do We Tell Our Patients?

Generic Glaucoma Drugs: Are They Equivalent?

Optimizing Vision for Athletes: Performance and Protection

Using Social Media as Part of a Total Online Strategy

Demystifying Full Back-surface (FBS) Progressive Lens Design

Alert: There Is More to the Retina than Sight

UPDATE Intracorneal Ring Segments for Keratoconus

Smartphones, Photons, and the Future of Eyecare

Will Crosslinking Play a Major Role in Vision Correction? – A Conversation with David Muller

Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Eye Health

Axis Accuracy with Toric IOLs

The Many Roles of Bandage Contact Lenses

Ocriplasmin: A Nonsurgical Treatment for Vitreomacular Adhesions

To Avoid Remakes: Think Like a Tailor

Articles

Alert: There Is More to the Retina than Sight

by Robert C. Campbell, MD, Editor-in-Chief | January 2012

UPDATE Intracorneal Ring Segments for Keratoconus

by Joseph Colin, MD | January 2012

Smartphones, Photons, and the Future of Eyecare

by Robert C. Campbell, MD, Editor-in-Chief | December 2011

Will Crosslinking Play a Major Role in Vision Correction? – A Conversation with David Muller

by David Muller, PhD | December 2011

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