You Just Can’t Talk to Some People. In our daily practice routine, we encounter all sorts of individuals with all sorts of styles of communicating. One of our greatest challenges as clinicians is to develop our own style that provides a clear transfer of information in a caring tone that can fit this broad spectrum [...]

FDA Approval of Surgical Treatment for Meibomian Gland Disease: A boon for patients and physicians alike. North Carolina-based TearScience recently announced the FDA approval of its LipiFlow thermal pulsation system for treating meibomian gland disease. This device is designed to apply heat to the inside of the eyelids while simultaneously compressing them from both internally [...]

“What do you mean I don’t have enough astigmatism to have laser cataract surgery, Senator?” There are many questions in physicians’ minds about the application of femtosecond lasers for routine cataract surgery. Among them is the degree of safety added and the amount of cost incurred with these procedures. Another is the reimbursement model. To [...]

An impending epidemic of lens/bag dislocations? A number of peer-reviewed publications in the last 10 years have highlighted the frequency of delayed dislocations of IOLs and capsular bags in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome. This phenomenon appears to be related to progressive capsular shrinkage and contraction (phimosis) creating centripetal traction against the lens zonules, causing the [...]

Generic ‘Equivalents’? This three-part blog series has focused on generic medications in ophthalmology. In our first post, we explored how the withdrawal of samples for branded medications used perioperatively will affect prescribing patterns. In our second post, we looked at the economics of generic medications, particularly for Medicare beneficiaries. Now, let’s talk about efficacy. Many eye surgeons [...]

Femto Wars, Part 2: The Nitty-Gritty While the interest in femtosecond cataract equipment from last fall’s AAO meeting continued at this year’s recently concluded ASCRS meeting (more than 1,400 people attended a live surgery session sponsored by Alcon), it is good to see the conversation turn more toward technical distinctions among the machines and their [...]

Generics, Part 2: The Real Cost of Generics — The hole in Medicare’s donut is bigger than it used to be. This is the second in a series of blog posts about changing trends in the use of perioperative medications in cataract surgery. For decades, physicians have become accustomed to pharmacies substituting generic medications for [...]

Generics, Part 1: As samples disappear, what will we prescribe? This is the first in a series of three blogs that will examine the changing climate affecting prescribing patterns for perioperative medications. As samples disappear, what about those who can’t afford medications? A sea change is happening in ophthalmology as it appears that market leaders [...]

Amniotic Membrane a Useful Tool for Every Ophthalmologist. A recent article by Tandon and colleagues in the British Journal of Ophthalmology described a study of 100 patients with moderate and severe ocular burns (both thermal and chemical) who were treated by conventional medical therapy with and without the adjunctive use of ocular surface transplantation with aminotic membrane [...]

For Cataract Surgery in the Uveitic Eye: use the safest lens possible. A recent study in the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery by Abela-Formanek reviewed the biocompatibility of different lens materials and designs for use in uveitic eyes. The study concluded, by a somewhat narrow margin, that hydrophilic acrylic lenses performed slightly better than hydrophobic acrylic [...]