News

An evolution in techniques for tarsoconjunctival flaps and grafts has provided reconstructive surgeons with a variety of effective options for addressing lid defects and other problems.

A new formulation of the fixed antibiotic/corticosteroid combination containing tobramycin and dexamethasone offers several improved characteristics that make it a viable therapeutic option for the management of inflammatory ocular conditions where a risk of bacterial infection exists.

In a multicenter trial evaluating the outcomes following vitrectomy for diabetic macular edema, investigators with the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Network found that visual acuity improvement was associated with the removal of epiretinal membrane during surgery and worse baseline VA.

When the ophthalmology department at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, was looking for an image management system that could integrate with the existing electronic medical record system, four vendors were invited to showcase their products to the selection committee.

While conversing with a group of professors during a recent dinner at an ophthalmology meeting, it occurred to the author that the people sitting around the table represented four continents. As the lone American, he felt his colleagues may be able to offer a message to ophthalmologists in the United States.

With the advent of intravitreal agents that block the negative effects of vascular endothelial growth factor among patients with age-related macular degeneration, ophthalmologists have begun to seek a higher level of performance from their diagnostic equipment.

Analyses exploring relationships between structural and functional losses in glaucoma show that early structural damage as measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography can occur in the absence of visual field changes.

Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography and time-domain OCT have both showed that the retinal nerve fiber layer is significantly thinner in glaucomatous eyes.

An anti-platelet-derived growth factor aptamer is safe and well-tolerated when used in combination with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and the ARVO Foundation for Eye Research will honor awards recipients at the 2010 annual meeting's ARVO/Alcon keynote session in May.

A dispensing ophthalmologist is part of a large, highly competitive retail environment. Your retail competition uses research that you might be ignoring to woo patients away from your on-site optical shop.

Eyes categorized as having keratoconus based on corneal topography and subsequently determined to be non-keratoconic by epithelial thickness profile criteria demonstrate good refractive stability after LASIK during up to 2 years of follow-up.

Studies conducted with waveform data obtained using a non-contact applanation tonometer show that this information pertaining to corneal biomechanical properties may have value in helping to identify early-stage compromised corneas.

Reform is reality

As members of the healthcare industry try to unravel the comprehensive health reform legislation that President Obama signed into law March 23, they are voicing concerns about such issues as patient access, payment for physicians, the creation of a new oversight board, and new taxes on medical devices.