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Clinicians should practice the art of medicine, which seems harder in these times of declining reimbursements and the proliferation of new shiny toys we can use, and charge for, to measure aspects of the tear film. If that sounds like advice from a dinosaur, I’m proud of it.

When there is an important position needing to be filled, but every staff member is gunning for the job, how do you pick the best without hurting people’s feelings? Here are the 5 thoughts to remember before making that decision.

Five pearls should be considered to protect the endothelium after cataract surgery. These involve consideration of the phacoemulsification techniques and technology, use of viscoelastics, irrigation and aspiration techniques, intracameral medications, and postoperative medications.

In his debut blog, Zack Oakey, MD, defends Sen. Rand Paul's actions against the American Board of Ophthalmology, and challenges his colleagues to do the same.

With the vast of information available online these days, it is only natural to want to search via ‘Google’ a past or current love, or even a potential employer to find out more about them. Patients also tend to search the Internet for physician recommendations-or negative comments-before choosing the right doctor for their ailment.But do physicians do the same for their patients? More importantly, is that even an acceptable practice?

Implant exchange in multifocal IOL recipients unhappy with their vision is better performed sooner rather than later. It is even better to avoid the exchange whenever possible by identifying and addressing a treatable cause for the patient’s complaints.The best strategy of all is to prevent dissatisfaction in the first place by attention to patient selection and preoperative management, said Stephen G. Slade, MD.

Dr. Heier, professor of ophthalmology, Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard University Medical School, Boston, evaluated the currently used regimens to determine the ideal approaches for these patients.

In patients with the rare disease of tumefactive multiple sclerosis, brain lesions may be mistaken for tumors. Treatments of high-dose steroid therapy and plasmapheresis can be considered.

Postmarketing clinical experience with ocriplasmin shows treatment success is higher when patients are chosen based on ideal criteria. No safety signals have emerged, but safety is being investigated more closely in ongoing trials.

Patients treated with aflibercept intravitreal injections for macular edema associated with branch retinal vein occlusion had a significantly greater decrease in central retinal thickness and significantly greater improvement in vision compared with laser at the end of the 52-week VIBRANT trial.

Studies that focus on switching treatments for exudative age-related macular degeneration may represent more real-life scenarios. However, future prospective studies with predetermined switching criteria and follow-up are needed.