Ophthalmology
Expert insights on ocular conditions, surgical techniques, retinal disease, and vision-related management.
Recent Discussions
How would you approach management of nodular scleritis in the setting of suspected GCA?
Scleritis is probably a rare but real association with GCA. The rarity is such that I would not ignore alternative causes of scleritis. For example, ANCA-associated vasculitis could mimic GCA and syphilis has also been reported as a masquerade. Scleritis is usually divided into 5 forms: nodular, dif...
How would you approach the upfront management of a patient with acute unilateral vision loss with strong clinical risk factors for both cardioembolic stroke and GCA if an expedited MRI is not possible due to the presence of an AICD?
I'm definitely not an expert in this topic, but you have many clinical tools to increase/decrease your clinical suspicion for GCA vs. cardioembolic stroke. Some things I would ask: Is this patient currently in Afib? What's their CHADSVASC? Are they anticoagulated? Can we get a TTE to check for vege...
Do you steer away from PRK when chronic pain history is present in an otherwise appropriate refractive surgery candidate?
There is not enough data to support the theory that patients with a history of pain may have more complications in PRK like slow or non-healing epithelial defects and neuropathic pain. However, I personally push patients toward femto LASIK when they qualify for both PRK and femto LASIK. The main rea...
How do you approach evaluating patients with suspected neuropathic corneal pain?
Start by taking a good history. Certain diagnoses, such as diabetes, previous cranial surgery, and/or radiation, and a history of varicella zoster keratitis should make you suspicious. If you suspect neurotrophic disease, don’t put any drops in the eye until you’ve had a chance to visually inspect t...
What is your approach to intralesional steroid injection for chalazia (in terms of dosage, approach, timing)?
I offer the option of intralesional steroid to all patients with chalazia, particularly if there is significant inflammation present. I give up to 1 cc of a 10 mg/mL solution of dexamethasone. I have approached this by both transconjunctival as well as transcutaneous. I think transconjunctival hurts...
How do you decide whether to continue hydroxychloroquine in a young patient who develops subretinal neovascularization with no other risk factors?
Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory agent, is used to treat autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjogren’s disease, etc.) and malarial prophylaxis. Vision problems can ensue resulting from these deleterious irreversible effects of HCQ on retina if the cum...
What are some methods to deal with IOP elevations with intravitreal injections in a patient without glaucomatous damage that does not want to have AC taps with each injection?
In this situation, depending on the elevated IOP, use the standard medical approach: Iopidine1%, Cosopt, Alphagan 0.2%, and in some cases, Diamox 250 mg. Wait for half an hour and repeat if necessary, or send the patient home with one or more drugs. Of course, make sure of drug selective contraindic...
What has been your experience with CP250 vs. CP350 in terms of ease of implantation, post-operative course, and efficacy in IOP lowering?
We did look at this in our study from Wills (Shalaby et al., PMID 38158079) and did not find a difference in IOP control or medication use between CP250 or CP350. However, the CP350 cohort was small and this was a retrospective study. Similar findings have been published earlier regarding the BGI 25...
Have you changed your practice in treating CRAO with IV thrombolysis?
The recent THEIA trial had a limited sample size to draw conclusions, even though there was a non-significant trend of improved visual acuity initially in the thrombolysis group. Even the TenCRAOS trial had a small sample size with recruitment challenges, where subtle small differences cannot be acc...
How do you determine the appropriate toric IOL when there is a discrepancy in axis or cylinder power between optical biometry and corneal tomography during preoperative evaluation?
Always difficult. Always re-measure when discrepancies occur. For axis discrepancies, Auto Ks, topography, biometry, and past refraction. Past refraction is where the patient lived their entire life before their cataract surgery. Which of these tests aligns the most? Past refraction, especially pre-...