A new method of tenonplasty combined with free oral buccal mucosa autografts can be used to surgically repair an intractable sclerocorneal melt caused by a serious chemical burn, according to a study.Although various methods exist to treat chemical bur…
“The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.”– Claude Levi-Strauss
Mooren’s ulcer is a clinical entity that results in peripheral ulcerative keratitis and corneal ulceration. A subset of these patients requires surgical intervention to stabilize the cornea and maintain ocular integrity. Although both cell-mediated and humoral immune mechanisms have been implicated in the possible pathogenic pathway leading to peripheral corneal melt and corneal ulceration, the exact etiology is yet to be fully understood.The clinical signs and symptoms and the types of Mooren’s ulcer were described in a previous Ocular Surgery News article about the first stage of surgery in this patient (Oct. 10, 2015, page 6).
A learning curve, by definition, is a graphical representation of the increase of learning with experience. A learning curve can be used in two main ways: either the same task is repeated over and over again, or a body of knowledge is learned over time. As premium surgeons, we know practice improves our surgical skill set, but “perfect practice makes perfect.” We must perform the necessary due diligence before performing any ocular surgery to make sure the surgery goes as planned. Likewise, the phrase “knowledge is power” is not far from the truth because the more knowledge we obtain as premium surgeons, the better we become at common and complex surgical cases. Below I discuss the various ways premium surgeons can lessen the steep learning curve associated with the microsurgical maneuvers we deal with every day.By participating either as a faculty member or as a course registrant, there are a slew of courses at the upcoming American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery meeting in New Orleans that can hone a premium surgeon’s skill set. Personally, I am participating as a faculty member in a phacoemulsification course organized by my colleagues Drs. Anita Nevyas-Wallace and William Roper in which participants have the opportunity to trial in wet lab fashion the various current phacoemulsification machines available in the United States: Stellaris PC (Bausch + Lomb), WhiteStar (Abbott Medical Optics) and Centurion (Alcon). One-on-one hands-on uses of the various surgical instruments and IOLs from the same companies can also be tried out, with personalized attention by experienced faculty and surgical clinical application specialists from the companies. Kitaro kits (FCI) and porcine eyes are available during this course as well to master and improve upon various cataract surgical techniques. I will also be participating as a faculty member in a hands-on femtosecond laser cataract course in which each of the participants will have the opportunity to experience the various approved platforms in the United States: Lensar (Alphaeon), LenSx (Alcon), Catalys (Abbott Medical Optics), Victus (Bausch + Lomb) and Z8 (Ziemer).
A spectral-domain OCT system integrated into a surgical microscope may improve the quality of posterior and anterior segment procedures, according to a study.In recent years, several research groups have developed similar devices to allow the use of OC…
LAS VEGAS — Eric D. Donnenfeld, MD, received the José I. Barraquer Award for excellence in refractive surgery at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting, and in his lecture on the future of LASIK, he separated fact from fiction from a surgeon’s perspective.“LASIK has fallen into a precipitous decline in the last couple years,” Donnenfeld said, attributing much of the decline to the change in the economy starting in 2008. Even with an upswing in the economy and consumer confidence, there has not been a rebound for LASIK in either the United States or Europe, he said.