US OPHTHALMIC REVIEW – VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1 – SPRING 2015

Welcome to the Spring edition of US Ophthalmic Review, which covers new advances in cataract, glaucoma, cornea, and retina sub specialities. In a timely update, Potvin et al. discuss the latest knowledge on the LenSx® femtosecond laser system. Lambert et al. compare contact lens and intraocular lens correction of monocular aphakia during infancy and a […]

Safe and effective cataract surgery is the goal for both patients and surgeons, with increasing demands for accurate refractive outcomes.1 Femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) is arguably the most significant change to cataract surgery since phacoemulsification, the adoption of which is in large part fueled by the desire for more precise and safe surgery with […]

“The argument of whether to operate bilateral cataracts in a single session, or in two different sessions, is as old as the operation itself, and the controversy between supporters of one option and the other had already, in the Middle Ages, become fiercely heated. So it has stayed, over the centuries, up to the present […]

The last few years have seen a deluge of publications discussing the potential advantages of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) compared with traditional phacoemulsification, but its introduction has been controversial. While many consider that the technique will transform cataract surgery, others claim it is not cost-effective and offers no significant advantages over traditional techniques. In […]

The Infant Aphakia Treatment Study (IATS) was a randomized, multicenter clinical trial that compared visual outcomes at age 4.5 years with or without intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in 114 children who underwent unilateral cataract surgery at 1 to

Laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for myopia is the most commonly performed corneal refractive procedure performed in the world today. The use of the excimer laser to reshape the cornea is accomplished utilizing an ultraviolet laser that contains sufficient energy per pulse to disrupt the organic bonds, which reside in the cornea. This allows corneal […]

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 […]

Endothelial keratoplasty was borne of the recognition that full thickness corneal transplantation may be an inherently flawed operation because, by compromising the ocular surface, a litany of serious complications could ensue. Nevertheless, still today penetrating keratoplasty (PK) and its cousin deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) remain the standard of care for eyes with advanced keratoconus […]

Glaucoma is a chronic progressive optic neuropathy, which can lead to irreversible blindness.1 It is characterized by loss of retinal nerve tissue that results in visual function deterioration. Structural changes, such as accelerated loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and their axons, and a specific pattern of damage in the optic nerve head (ONH) associated […]

The decision to perform incisional glaucoma surgery is not an easy one. Surgery has traditionally been reserved for patients who are progressing or are deemed likely to progress despite maximally tolerated medical and/ or laser therapy. It is at this point that the risk for continuing to observe outweighs the risks for performing surgery. There […]

“Pharmacologic or medical trabeculectomy” is a term first used in the 1970s. This describes a process by which the trabecular meshwork (TM) can be biochemically manipulated in order to reduce the outflow resistance and, thus, the intraocular pressure (IOP). The TM is now regarded as a complex organization of multiple components, which play a major […]

Glaucoma is the most common form of optic neuropathy and a leading cause of blindness worldwide.1 Currently, no treatment is available to reverse glaucomatous retinal ganglion cell (RGC) damage or vision loss. In clinic, glaucoma is diagnosed by optic disc pallor, central depression, excavation, and an increased cup-to-disc ratio.2 Many patients with glaucoma display an […]

Recent advancements in imaging technology have allowed a more in-depth understanding of the diseases of the vitreoretinal interface (VRI), and have also changed how we evaluate the effectiveness of different treatment options. Until the development of optical coherence tomography (OCT), no practical method was widely available for visualizing and evaluating diseases of the VRI, and […]

In the past decade reports from numerous clinical trials have announced the arrival of a new era in pharmacotherapy for retinal diseases.1 This promises to be transformational in the fight against avoidable blindness where neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) are recognized in a recent systematic review as leading causes, worldwide, of […]

Worldwide retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a treatable disorder that is a leading cause of blindness in children.1 ROP can usually be effectively treated if detected in the severe acute disease phase, but detection currently requires a series of resource-intensive examination by ophthalmologists with expertise in ROP. Less than 10 % of premature infants at […]

Technologic advances have transformed ophthalmology over the past several decades—from vastly improving cataract surgical outcomes to offering ever-expanding arsenals of drugs and devices to control glaucoma. However, nearly 90 % of the 285 million people suffering worldwide from severe vision loss or blindness are not benefiting from this progress because they live in the developing […]