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Though genetic testing can identify some types of glaucoma, risk assessment and counseling based on family history is more helpful for most patients than genetic testing, said Wallace L.M. Alward, MD.

Femto laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) is a latest advance in technology that is transforming traditional cataract surgery into a refractive procedure. Multiple studies have shown that laser-assisted cataract surgery can increase precision and reproducibility of the anterior capsulotomy, reduce effective phacoemulsion time, cause less postoperative inflammation to the anterior chamber, and possibly reduce surgically-induced endothelial cell damage. However, it is discussed much less often that the safeguards built into FLACS instruments can fail and allow the femto laser grid pattern to be delivered into the cornea.

Lee T. Nordan, MD, known to the ophthalmic community as one of the leading and innovative refractive surgeons, passed away Dec. 21, 2015 at the age of 69 from glioblastoma, a rare and extremely aggressive form of brain cancer.To his colleagues, Dr. Nordan was a legend-someone who was not afraid to dream of the impossible, speak his truth, and invest his time and effort into bringing out the best in his fellow surgeons.

The 2015 International Society of Refractive Surgery survey, the twentieth such survey and the seventh year published online, presents new findings about surgeons’ preferences in corneal and lens-based surgeries, premium intraocular lenses (IOLs), and femtosecond cataract surgery.

From time to time I receive requests from a new manager or supervisor asking for any pearls of wisdom to help them as they begin their new role in the administrative field. They have the wide-eyed exuberance of youth, a child-like view at the practice they have been in for years and are now seeing for the first time with a “fresh snow” view: untouched, clean, white, gentle drifts of snow. Those of us who have been there realize they will soon see that what they are really looking at is end of winter: dirty snow and dreary, cloudy skies.

The glued IOL technique introduced by Amar Agarwal, MD, is an effective method for repositioning a dislocated 3-piece IOL in eyes without adequate capsular support, and it has advantages compared with suturing, according to Eric D. Donnenfeld, MD, founding partner, Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island and Connecticut, Garden City, NY.

The use of a keratometric index to estimate total corneal power calculation is imprecise, especially in corneas with keratoconus or after myopic laser refractive surgery. The errors can be reduced by using an adjusted keratometric index, consisting of a variable keratometric index that depends on the radius of the anterior corneal surface.

Many, many, many years ago, when I was but a young trainee doing my fellowship year in Corneal and External Diseases, my professor called me into his office on multiple occasions.“Sit down,” he would say, and I did. “So, are you happy?” he would ask. It struck me as an unusual question at the time. Today, I wonder if my professor might have been on to something.

Severe myopia affected the attitudes of both Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, but in opposite ways, according to biographer Edmund Morris.“Since both of them became aware of their myopia in their early teens, it was obviously a formative experience for both of them,” Morris told Ophthalmology Times.

Aerie recently reported the results of its second phase III registration trial in the United States named Rocket 2, where the primary efficacy endpoint was to demonstrate non-inferiority of IOP lowering for Rhopressa compared with timolol.

Phase I/II interim data for a bimatoprost sustained-release implant show the device has favorable safety and efficacy and may address the problem of patient nonadherence.

A bimatoprost-releasing ocular insert that rests in the conjunctival fornix (ForSight VISION5) lowered IOP in patients with ocular hypertension or glaucoma by an average of 4 to 6 mm Hg from baseline over 6 months.

The Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) provided evidence supporting early treatment of selected patients with OHT, especially in high-risk individuals identified by a glaucoma risk prediction model. A new phase designed to gather data to guide even more personalized care is about to begin.

While it is still unclear why some patients respond well to anti-VEGF therapy and others do not, a new post hoc analysis of the DRCR.net Protocol I data may help physician make more efficient use of therapy by more quickly identifying which category each patient is in.

An extended-release therapy that encapsulates travoprost in an intracameral implant showed a statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction in IOP with results comparable to topical once-daily travoprost ophthalmic solution, said Tom R. Walters, MD, Texan Eye, Austin.

A reasonable goal for patients with low-tension glaucoma patients is an IOP that’s 30% below the untreated baseline. However, some patients will continue to progress and may require single-digit target IOP goals.

A 65-year-old male with a history of congenital cataracts, bilateral cataract extraction and secondary placement of anterior chamber intraocular lenses with subsequent development of glaucoma, cicatricial conjunctivitis, dry eye and limbal stem cell deficiency presented with left eye pain and decreased vision.

Ophthalmology Times spoke with its Editorial Advisory Board members to get their thoughts on how the field of ophthalmology is growing, what advances they are highly anticipating, and what major hurdles ophthalmologists will face in 2016. A special thanks to Peter J. McDonnell, MD, Randall Olson, MD, Andrew G. Lee, MD, Sharon Fekrat, MD, and Robert K. Maloney, MD, for giving us a sneak peak at what the new year will bring.

Reproducibility of keratometry is better for early keratoconus than for advanced keratoconus, a new study showed.The study could help clinicians decide when to use corneal cross-linking in their efforts to stop the progression of the disease, wrote Tom H. Flynn, PhD, and his colleagues from the Corneal Service, Moorfields Eye Hospital, St. George’s Hospital, London. They published their finding in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

While no new drug shook up the world of glaucoma in 2015, a variety of promising agents made incremental advances toward the market with their true potential as yet unproven. Manufacturers have continued to refine approaches to existing drugs.

Corneal surgeons thought 2015 would be the year that collagen crosslinking (CXL) for the treatment of keratoconus would be approved in the United States, but the FDA’s decision on Avedro’s KXL system is not expected until April 2016.

While 2015 may not have been the year for ground-breaking introductions or trials in the field of refractive surgery, plenty of improvements have kept the procedure an evolving process, Ophthalmology Times editorial advisory board members said.

Over the past few years, various diagnostics have been introduced to help clinicians identify inflammatory conditions on the ocular surface more readily and, therefore, provide treatment to patients earlier in their disease states.

As 2015 progressed, researchers reported better ways to detect glaucoma, measure the damage it is causing, and understand how that damage is affecting their patients’ lives. No single innovation revolutionized the profession, but a wide range of technologies became more available to clinicians.

A standard measurement and grading system for the field of binocular single vision (BSV) should be combined with a quality of life (QoL) questionnaire to assess the success of strabismus surgery in patients with diplopia from Graves’ orbitopathy researchers said.

Alimera Sciences features 10 physician case studies via webcast.

2015 may be noted as a year of emergence for sustained-release drug delivery therapies for dry eye and glaucoma, according to Jonathan H. Talamo, MD, Boston.Cornea specialists have always appreciated the need to treat dry eye, “but it’s now becoming more and more appreciated and the importance of underlying dry eye and drying is so ubiquitous,” said Ernest W. Kornmehl, MD, Brookline, MA.