Ophthalmology
Unexpected diagnoses – stroke in children and homonymous hemianopia
We present the case of a 12-year-old child presenting with a few days history of left-sided visual loss. Upon further investigation with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) she was unexpectedly diagnosed with a right-sided chronic posterior cerebral arterial territory infarct, causing...
My Top Five Ophthalmology YouTube channels
In the digital age, medical education is being rapidly updated and transformed with the integration of modern technology. Many enthusiastic educators and learners are exploring novel platforms and formats of medical education. Additionally, there has been an increasing need for...
Can e-learning help bridge the ophthalmology teaching gap?
The authors ask whether e-learning can help to address the current lack of ophthalmology teaching in the undergraduate curriculum. Studies among the United Kingdom, Australasian, Canadian and Asian medical schools have found that students on average spent just over a...
The clues of the eye – what is medical ophthalmology?
The author looks at the increasingly significant role of medical ophthalmologists and the importance of integrative healthcare. The eye is a remarkable organ, and for decades we have been discovering intimations of pathology existing elsewhere in the body [1] simply...
Ophthalmology clinical teaching and research fellowships: a pathway into ophthalmology specialty training
Ophthalmology is known for being one of the most competitive medical specialties in the UK, with 6.8 applicants per post in 2021. In fact, the competition ratio has drastically increased in recent years, rising from 5.73 in 2020 and 3.24...
Irido-corneal endothelial syndrome: an overview
Irido-corneal endothelial (ICE) syndrome is a rare group of eye related disorders that constitute three different clinical entities: Chandler syndrome (CS), essential / progressive iris atrophy and iris naevus / Cogan-Reese syndrome. ICE syndrome is sporadic in its presentation as...
My ophthalmic elective: Harvard Medical School
Medical electives are an excellent opportunity to learn, enjoy and explore countries and their healthcare systems. I was grateful to do mine in ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School (HMS). This article will share my personal experience working at HMS with...
Safety and efficacy of a nurse-led intravitreal injection service using an Precivia® injection assist device
Nurse-led intravitreal injections have become of great importance for busy eye units. In this article, the authors present safety data from five years of a nurse-led service with the use of the Precivia® intravitreal injection assist device. Intravitreal injections of...
Working smarter not harder: How to transform eyecare delivery in the United Kingdom (part 1)
Are we doing enough to meet the current demands on ophthalmic services? In part one of a two-part series (see Part 2 here), Rosalind Harrison takes a look at how efficiency has been improved in eyecare services in the US....
What’s new in glaucoma? Clinical trials drive practice changes, surgical advancements gather pace
Rod McNeil reviews the latest developments in the treatment of glaucoma in the UK. Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), which accounts for over two-thirds of all glaucoma cases, has an estimated UK prevalence in 2017 of approximately 2% of people over...
A guide to the Multi-Speciality Recruitment Assessment (MSRA) exam
The MSRA exam is a mandatory part of the application for ophthalmology specialist training in the UK. It is a computer-based exam which is designed to assess junior doctors with foundation level competence. It is used for entry to postgraduate...
Valuable resources for FRCOphth Part 1 exam preparation
The FRCOphth Part 1 exam is a difficult exam with an average pass rate of 46% in the last year. It is a requirement before entry into the third year of ophthalmology specialty training (OST). Passing this exam during foundation...
