Lynda Charters

Infectious uveitis is usually diagnosed based on the clinical findings with consideration of the duration and progression of the disorder, the appearance of the inflammation, and the extent of the retinal involvement.

The HORIZON Retinal Vein Occlusion Study, an extension study of the BRAVO Study, found that long-term multiple intravitreal injections of ranibizumab were well-tolerated by patients with branch retinal vein occlusion and central retinal vein occlusion.

The results of the direct comparison of ranibizumab and bevacizumab after 1 year of treatment showed that the two drugs adminisred according to monthly and as-needed protocols produced significant decreases in retinal fluid with small amounts of residual fluid in patients with AMD.

The use of laser to treat diabetic macular edema is often the topic of debate.

Ocriplasmin can eliminate the need for surgery to close macular holes in a substantial percentage of patients.

The optimal use of mitomycin C in glaucoma surgery in pediatric patients is still controversial.

Use of spectacles, contact lenses, or medications does not inhibit the progression of myopia for any length of time, as seen in in large major studies in children.

Doing the best possible job for patients with ocular allergies involves a careful ferreting out of symptoms and selecting the most effective treatments based on the severity of the disease and the effectiveness of the medications.

Recent findings about uveal melanoma indicate that patients can be divided into high- and low-risk clasess, and that a mutation in one gene on chromosomes 3, BAP1, is closely associated with the high metastatic risk class 2 form of uveal melanoma.

Ophthalmologists are not formally trained in the art of talking with patients about potentially stressful medical diagnoses; yet, this skill is important and can be the most challenging part of practice for glaucoma specialists.

The trabecular meshwork fails in glaucoma because of physical changes in the trabecular meshwork and altered signaling pathways.

A new method of drug delivery for ocular hypertensive therapies cannot be expected to be generally available for 4 or more years from now.

The use of cryopreserved amniotic membrane tissue on the ocular surface can modulate inflammation and promote healing without scarring in adults.

The field of laser cataract surgery continues to evolve with the Dec. 22 announcement by OptiMedica that its proprietary laser system received FDA 510(k) market clearance for capsulotomy and lens fragmentation.

Genetic research has identified genes that can cause glaucoma primarily on their own and genes that require involvement of multiple genes and environmental factors in order for the disease to develop.

The advent of femtosecond laser technology for cataract surgery has resulted in myriad issues for ophthalmologists to face: the actual benefits of the laser versus the cost to patients, establishment of the patient share of the costs, associated financial risks for the practice and ambulatory surgery center, advertising, and patient satisfaction.

Genotyping of patients to determine the risk of progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration is going to be a critical part of current/ongoing clinical trials and those in the future.

Uveitic glaucoma in children is a common complication of anterior uveitis that often coexists with cataract and band keratopathy.

For the retina subspecialty, the past year was one of controversy, technologic advances, and an important approval from the FDA, as well as a surprise decision from the agency.

This year was one in which the femtosecond laser and its applications in refractive and cataract surgery and variations in the applications of crosslinking really began to blossom.

The FDA has approved aflibercept for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Periocular injections of steroids improve active inflammation and macular edema in most patients with uveitis.

Oral fenretinide slowed the growth of geographic atrophy and reduced the incidence of choroidal neovascularization in patients who were treated over a 2-year period with a daily dose of the drug.

A lubricating eye drop product seems to provide ocular relief for an extended period to patients with mild to moderate dry eye.

Patients with moderate to serve dry eye disease are dissatisfied with various dry eye therapies because they do not provide complete symptom relief.

Although PRK and LASIK caused visual disturbances and dry eye symptoms early after the procedures in a comparison, PRK produced more visual distrubances than LASIK.

A procedure that uses meibomian gland intraductal probing seems to be helpful in patients with severely obstructed meibomian glands.

An investigational telescope implant has been given an 8-0 approvable vote by the FDA advisory panel.

An intraoperative wavefront aberrometer seems to be highly beneficial for patients and surgeons because it allows the surgeon to manage astigmatism effectively.

Combination therapy of an anti-platelet-derived growth factor aptamer plus an anti-vascular endothelial lesion regression in 91% of eyes with choroidal neovascularization compared with only 16% of eyes with anti-VEGF monotherapy.