One of the most dreaded complications of eye surgery is an infection inside the eye. We do everything we can to prevent such infections, and, thankfully, these types of infections occur very rarely. And the good news is that we are winning! According to a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology by Dr. Brian VanderBeek and…

I have many glaucoma patients, as well as other patients, who wonder about their eye pressure measurements. When the left eye pressure was 13 at the last visit and is 15 at the current visit, they ask, “What happened? Why did my eye pressure go up?” Eye pressure is not static at all times. For…

Some people do procedures and surgeries faster than others. Sometimes the fast surgeons are incredibly gifted and have great outcomes. Sometimes, they do not. While there are reasons not to loiter and extend surgery time in the eye, those reasons have to do with outcomes. At the end of the day, I argue that the…

One of the topics that is getting more and more attention in ophthalmic surgery is the waste generated by eye surgeries. In the August 2024 edition of the journal Cornea, Shambhawi Thakur and colleagues published an article that noted the waste produced from corneal and conjunctival surgeries. They note that “assessing waste production form different…

In the August 2024 edition of the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, Dr. Matthew Rauen and colleagues published a study about using lower eye pressure during cataract surgery. They showed that surgery with lower eye pressure caused some less swelling after surgery. However, they also noted that that the difference did not cause a…

Normally, this section is reserved for musings about eye-related news and other ophthalmological sundries. But, the team I support, the Washington Commanders, just won their first playoff game in about 20 years. So, I apologize for the interlude that has nothing to do with eyes, but…. Go Washington!!!

While the world of ocular surgery training has changed since I was there, I can definitely remember how we used to practice surgery. Occasionally, I used large unwieldy cow eyes, but the eyes I used most often, those that felt the most like human eyes, were pig eyes. In fact, there are still papers and…

In the September 2024 edition of the Journal Ophthalmology, Dr. Siar Niazi and colleagues published a study about glaucoma in patients with diabetes. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists include now famous medications such as Ozempic. They compared the rate of developing glaucoma in people with diabetes who were on these medications to the rate of developing…

I have written about this before, but I saw a new article about it, so I decided to revisit the topic. In the July 2024 edition of the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Paola Rivera and colleagues published a study showing that patient anxiety is reduced by playing music in the operating room. I…

It is known that, over the years, astigmatism changes. It changes from what is called “with-the-rule astigmatism” to “against-the-rule astigmatism.” Who made up “the rule,” anyway? I don’t know. =) Dr. Ken Hayashi and colleagues published a study in the July 2024 edition of the journal Cornea that showed that, at least in a Japanese…