In a word, I’d say ‘Yes.’ But they aren’t as safe as some people think they are. If I have a patient who is a contact lens user and they have any eye symptoms other than severe decreased vision, there is a very high likelihood that the reason behind the eye problems is contact lens…

In the October 2023 edition of JAMA Ophthalmology, Dr. Anne Nguyen and colleagues reported ocular symptoms in people aged 13-24 years who used electronic cigarettes, cigarettes, or both. They found that users of both e-cigarettes and cigarettes were more likely to experience the sort of symptoms we associate with tear film dysfunction and eye surface…

In the September 2023 edition of JAMA Ophthalmology, Dr. Lloyd Zhao and colleagues published a study about the use of adjustable-focus spectacles in children aged 5-11. They reference that these adjustable glasses have been used in older patients successfully in the past to achieve good vision. While the younger kids were able to achieve good…

Prem Patel and colleagues published a study in the September 2023 edition of the journal, Ophthalmology. Their study suggests that one third of U.S. ophthalmologists had job turnover between 2014 and 2021. Though I don’t know this for sure, it seems that this is decreased job stability compared to what it was a couple of…

In a series of articles in the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Bobby Osher has written about the importance of music in the OR. He states that it is important to make operating less stressful, and he also mentions that it is part of patient comfort. So, don’t worry, I’ll always want soothing sounds…

In the August 2023 edition of JAMA Ophthalmology, Patrice Hicks and colleagues published a study about social factors and corneal infections. The worse the vision when a patient comes in with a corneal infection and the later in the course of the infection that they come in, the worse the overall outcome will be. Dr.…

In the September 2023 edition of the journal Cornea, Lea Grauhan and colleagues published a case report of patients with ectrodactyly-ecotdermal dysplasia-cleft syndrome. What the heck is that? It is a rare genetic disease that causes limbal stem cell deficiency. That prevents the cornea from functioning normally. Even though it is very rare, it is…

In the August 2023 edition of the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, Dr. Tomas Bro and colleagues published a review about cataract surgeries in Sweden from 1992 to 2021. One of the measures they tracked was posterior capsule rupture rate. When a cataract surgery is done, the typical procedure involves placing a replacement lens…

In the July 2023 edition of JAMA Ophthalmology, William Paul and colleagues published a study that showed that an AI system could do an okay job of estimating vision from pictures of the eye. This was only done in the setting of diabetes, and the vision that it was estimating was best vision with the…

On our exams of the eye, we often see a findings that looks like small dots on the back part of the cornea. The cornea is the very front portion of the eyeball. These findings are called guttae, and they are indicative of decreased function of the back part of the cornea. The back part…