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Today, I saw an entry in the American Journal of Ophthalmology. This is a report published by Dr. Hasenin Al-khersan and colleagues. The article describes two patients who had retinal detachments after use of pilocarpine 1.25% eye drops, which were started for presbyopia. Presbyopia, in basic terms, is the medical term for “needing reading glasses.”…

I’ve recently seen a number of patients who have had foreign bodies in their eyes. A foreign body is exactly what it sounds like–any object that is not really supposed to be in one’s eye that ends up there. Even the smallest of foreign bodies can cause a lot of irritation, and often they are…

Though I’ve covered this topic before, it is certainly an important one in ophthalmology. Most of the time, a feeling of “scratchy eyes” is caused by an inadequate tear film. The principal reason that one may have an inadequate tear film is due to improper tear film composition. In other words, it is more common…

You may be familiar with a particular type of contact lens that is smaller and more rigid than “typical” contact lenses. Those “typical” contact lenses that are the current market leaders are generally referred to as soft contact lenses. I, preferring simple nomenclature, call the other lenses hard contact lenses, though they can also be…

When we are awake, the natural function of blinking moves the elements of the tear film, including mucus and debris, over the eye and into the punctum. Through the punctum, the tear film drains, and there is turnover of the liquid (and its contents) on the surface of the eye. When we are asleep, the…

Occasionally, I notice a misunderstanding on the part of some members of the public. It is certainly not ubiquitous or even that common, but I hear about it frequently enough that I thought I would comment on it. Wearing glasses does NOT typically change a person’s eyes. Some people believe that the purpose of glasses…

On Fridays, my current surgery day, a fly on the wall would hear me say “don’t squeeze!” over and over again. Sometimes it seems as though I’ve forgotten how to say anything else! Most of my surgeries are cataract surgeries, and I typically do not use any stitches during surgery. The incisions are “self-sealing,” but…

I recently read a JAMA Ophthalmology article in which Drs. Hendrik Scholl and Caroline Klaver discuss pentosan and macular disease. Pentosan is a treatment for a chronic bladder condition called interstitial cystitis. The macula is the center portion of the retina. There seems to be an association between the use of pentosan and disease of…

Perhaps it is my bias being in the medical field, but I feel that there is a lot of information in the world about diabetic foot disease. I assume, based on this, that we are all familiar with the idea that decreased sensation in the foot can lead to non-healing wounds and other complications of…

It seems that many ophthalmologists have neck and back issues, as I have recently learned through the comments of my colleagues. A lot of this is tied to the use of an operating microscope for several hours on surgery day, especially when we can’t get our patients positioned quite right. Appropriate positioning of patients often…