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NEW ORLEANS – The keratoprosthesis has been an inexpensive and safe artificial cornea for many patients in the developing world, and improvements in the design and protocol have greatly reduced complication rates, according to a presenter here.“The Boston Keratoprosthesis (B-KPro) is implanted in a standard corneal graft and then sutured in,” Claes H. Dohlman, MD, PhD, said in the keynote lecture at Cornea Subspecialty Day preceding the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting. Potential complications include tissue melt, infection, glaucoma and inflammation that can cause other problems, such as retinal detachment, (Read more...)

NEW ORLEANS – In the realm of glaucoma, although generic medications provide the patient the same reliable safety and efficacy as brands, with less cost, be cautious with mail-order products, a speaker here said. “Latanoprost, for example, does have a number of generics, but not everything that is sold, particularly things through mail-order, is the generic version of latanoprost,” Wiley A. Chambers, MD, told attendees at Glaucoma Subspecialty Day preceding the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting. “There are countries outside of the United States that make latanoprost products that are (Read more...)

NEW ORLEANS — While NSAIDs may be useful for treating corneal transplant rejection, they should not be used in dry eyes or cases of corneal melt, a speaker said here. Graft rejection detected early in a low-risk patient may be reversible in 75% of cases, Reza Dana, MD, said at Cornea Subspecialty Day preceding the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.“Our current approach in patients at high risk of rejection (three or more quadrants of neovascularization) is we prophylax intraoperatively with subconjunctival and intravenous steroid, then 3 to 6 weeks of (Read more...)

NEW ORLEANS — A speaker here at Cornea Subspecialty Day said the advantages to using compounded medications still outweigh the drawbacks, even when considering contamination issues. Bennie H. Jeng, MD, said these agents have been “a mainstay for many conditions in our field,” in glaucoma and cornea care, and in anti-VEGF and intravitreal injections. Compounding allows physicians to customize dosages, provide allergen-free and preservative-free medications, and provide formulations not normally available, he said.

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NEW ORLEANS – Clinicians need to keep on the lookout for herpes zoster infections, especially in older patients, according to a speaker. “Older patients have a greater risk of herpes zoster,” Elisabeth J. Cohen, MD, said during Cornea Subspecialty Day preceding the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting. “The risk starts to go up significantly after age 40 and rises sharply after age 50.” Fifty percent of the population who live to age 85 years have herpes zoster. One million cases of herpes zoster are reported in the United States annually; (Read more...)