EUROPEAN OPHTHALMIC REVIEW – VOLUME 9 – ISSUE 2 – WINTER 2015

Awarm welcome to the winter edition of the European Ophthalmic Review. This issue features two papers exploring corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL), in particular, the modifications to the original ‘Dresden protocol’. The two main modifications are transepithelial (epi-on) CXL and accelerated CXL, which seem to rely on a final common pathway that determines efficacy, i.e. oxygen […]

Presbyopia normally develops as a person ages and is associated with a natural progressive loss of accommodation ability to rapidly and easily refocus on objects at varying distances. A variety of technologies have been developed to enhance the ability of the intraocular lens (IOL) to facilitate viewing. Multifocal (MF) IOLs were designed to eliminate the […]

Cataract surgery offers the ophthalmic surgeon an opportunity to treat corneal astigmatism. However, the question remains, what is reasonably possible and what is needed to attain this possibility? As an initial step, the question needs to be asked, how much astigmatism is significant? Employing adaptive optics and bench top studies, it has been shown that […]

Subsequent to the first published feasibility study of photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) on treatment of highly anisometropic, myopic and hyoperopic, amblyopia in children by Singh et al. in 1994, a slew of articles on corneal laser refractive and lens-based intraocular surgery for treatment of paediatric refractive amblyopia in select clinical settings have followed.1 Whereas modern refractive […]

The human cornea is the optically clear window of the eye and its main refractive component that focuses light to the retina allowing vision. Thus, the optical transparency of the cornea is critical for optimal vision. Injury or diseases that cause irreversible loss of transparency lead to vision loss and eventually blindness. Globally, it is […]

Cross-linking (CXL) is a technique originating from the synthetic polymer field that can be used to alter a polymer’s physical and mechanical properties. It was first proposed for corneal use by Theo Seiler from Germany in 1995 and was later applied clinically in 1998.1 A corneal ‘crosslink’ is a bond between natural polymer chains such […]

Rationale for Anti-inflammatory Treatment in Severe Dry EyeThe Dry Eye Workshop, in 2007, defined dry eye disease (DED) as a multifactorial disease of the tears and ocular surface that results in symptoms of discomfort, visual disturbance and tear film instability, with potential damage to the ocular surface.1 The definition adds that: “It is accompanied by […]

Of the approximately 3 million cataract surgeries performed in the US each year, epidemiologists predict that 10 % will have ocular hypertension or open angle glaucoma (OAG). Ophthalmologists must be ready to handle those surgeries as well as the 100,000 stand-alone glaucoma procedures. Glaucoma patients present special challenges in cataract surgery. How you proceed with […]

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world, affecting around 65 million people worldwide.1 It has been calculated that 76 million people by 2020 and 112 million people by 2040 will be affected and will require medical care for this progressive optic neuropathy. Very well-defined guidelines have been issued by the European […]

Proceedings of a Symposium Presented at the European Society of Ophthalmology 2015 Congress in Vienna, Austria on 8 June 2015

Retinal vein occlusions (RVO) affect over 16 million people worldwide, with 2.5 million affected by central retinal vein occlusions (CRVO) and 13.9 million affected by branch retinal vein occlusions (BRVO).1 RVO are still the second leading retinal vasculopathy after diabetic retinopathy and the fifth leading cause of monocular blindness.2 Up to 15 % of patients […]

The vitreoretinal interface is a complex structure that facilitates the attachment between the internal limiting membrane of the retina and the vitreous, a clear gel filling the posterior of the eye.1,2 As the eye ages, a series of physiological events occurs to the vitreous, including liquefaction, which predisposes the eye to posterior vitreous detachment (PVD).2 […]

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has proved to be a valuable approach to imaging ocular vasculature and is becoming a critical method in precisely diagnosing the type and identifying the location of retinal disease.1–7 Fluorescein angiography (FA), used to examine the retinal microvasculature, to date has produced valuable diagnostic information and insights into the pathophysiology of […]

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of central visual loss and legal blindness in patients over the age of 65 years.1,2 The exudative or neovascular form of AMD accounts for over 90 % of the cases with severe visual loss.3 AMD is a highly complex disease with demographic, environmental and genetic risk factors. […]

Optical treatment for improving vision of patients that suffer from agerelated macular degeneration (AMD) is not new, but it is still the only option to improve vision for the majority of AMD patients (90 % of AMD are dry-type patients and many of the wet type patients after being treated with injections). Traditionally, external telescopes […]

We recently published a review of diabetic retinopathy (DR) screening methods and programmes adopted in different parts of the world.1 After publication we learnt about more DR screening programmes and believed that this important information should be supplemented with data from Portugal, Denmark and the US (see Table 1). Portugal Ribeiro et al.2 presented a […]

Ever since femtosecond lasers were first introduced into refractive surgery, the ultimate goal has been to create an intrastromal lenticule that can then be removed in one piece manually, thereby circumventing the need for incremental photoablation by an excimer laser. This was achieved in 2005, presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) meeting in […]

In 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Genentech’s ranibizumab (Lucentis®), a Fab fragment of a humanized monoclonal antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A designed for intraocular use for the treatment of exudative age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). Since 2006, ranibizumab and its parent monoclonal antibody bevacizumab have been extensively used to treat exudative ARMD. […]