A round-up of the eye-related hot topics that have been trending on social media over the last few weeks.
#SciFi #Vision
Growing up at home, it was my job to read the crossword clues out to my parents. I usually wasn’t much help at getting the answers, and actually a lot of the time I read out the incorrect clues, too. Thankfully for Shiela Irvine, she has regained the independence to read and do crosswords on her own without the need for an assistant [1], thanks to an intraocular implant that communicates with the optic nerve in a sci-fi-sounding novel trial out of Moorfields [2]. The trial involved implantation of the device: an external camera, linked to a 2mm square intraocular device and modulated by an external processor to produce crisper images, into 28 patients. At 12 months, the team found a clinically significant improvement in vision in 80% of participants. Whilst it is certainly early days, this represents the development of new treatments for macular degeneration which at present has limited options.
#UFC #EyePoke
A UFC heavyweight champion’s title defence fight ended not in knockout, but in an eye poke, or rather two. Around four minutes into the first round, Cyril Gane’s errant punch open-handedly caught Aspinall directly in each eye [3], leaving him stunned and reporting that he couldn’t see. The fight was called off as no contest, Aspinall retaining his title, but losing his weekend for evaluation by ophthalmologists. It’s an unfortunate setback for the 32-year-old, who reported the eye injury as more daunting than the major knee surgery he recently underwent, due to its uncertain recovery [4].
#StarryEyed #Prosthetic
When life dealt Slater Jones a bad hand, he changed suits to all diamonds. The 23-year-old jewellery designer lost his vision aged 17 following a toxoplasmosis infection and eventually required an enucleation. The young designer decided that a standard prosthetic wasn’t for him and has made headlines by implanting a diamond into his prosthesis [5]. He approximated the total cost of the prosthesis, with a central 2-carat stone, at £1.5 million. Jones now goes by ‘Diamond Eye’, a salient reminder that prosthetics, especially in ophthalmology, are as important personally as they are medically.
#SerialKiller #Netflix
Netflix have done their best to be true to life in the makeup department for their latest serial-killer series documenting the life of Ed Gein. Charlie Hunnam, the actor playing the killer who inspired well-known roles including Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, spent a significant time getting the makeup team to add a prosthetic around his orbit to give the appearance of a lazy eye [6]. Gein was supposedly bullied throughout his childhood for strabismus, a potential contributing factor to his later devilish crimes. Hunnam was eager to be true to life with this ocular aspect, as he felt it helped him explore the reasons behind Gein’s actions rather than simply playing a character.
#Halloween #Costume
Eyes are a classic horror film trope, from A Clockwork Orange to Final Destination, they have a tendency to produce toe-curling frights in even the most seasoned viewer. For one man, Halloween horror took a more literal turn when he noticed pain and swelling shortly after popping in some cheap contact lenses for his blood-splattered costume [7]. He later attended his opticians, who advised that the poor quality of the commercial factory-made contacts were the likely culprit. Specsavers warned cases like this are a cautionary tale to others, as the cheaply made and unregulated lenses sit directly on the incredibly delicate cornea, predisposing to abrasions and ulcers.
#Pickleball #EyeInjury
Ever been tempted to try pickleball when a friend brings it up? Me neither, and by the looks of things this may actually be a visually protective move. Pickleball has shot up in popularity in recent years due to its relative ease to pick up and more casual atmosphere than its older cousin tennis [8]. There have been 3100 pickleball related injuries since 2005, and almost 1300 of these occurred in 2024 alone. Unlike other racket sports like squash, where there is much awareness of eye injuries and encouraged (if not mandated) eye protection, pickleball’s rise to stardom seems to have outpaced users’ awareness of ocular risks. Injuries have ranged from minor to severe, including retinal detachments, globe trauma, hyphaema and orbital fractures, raising the question of whether the sport needs to take responsibility to prevent injuries in those who play.
#Parkrun #Inspiring
Louise Simpson has the phenomenal achievement of completing her 500th Parkrun [9]. This is an impressive feat by any standard, a testament to her dedication and determination made even more extraordinary when you consider that she has been blind since birth. She completed her 500th run at the Hillsborough Parkrun, linking arms with her close friend John who described feeling honoured by the occasion. Louise explains she doesn’t run with a tether to her guide, as she prefers the contact and overall trusting atmosphere. Me and my father, who has been blind since his 30s, are running the London marathon next year, tethered together. I get the feeling that I may be the one dragged along, so I will borrow some of Louise’s undeniably inspiring positivity to help me through the event.
#GlassesFree #Drops
Could the answer to presbyopia really be in a bottle? A story that has garnered attention after this year’s European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting is the role of atropine and diclofenac to treat presbyopia [10]. Previous research has identified pilocarpine to treat paediatric refractive errors, and this year we heard the results that adults using drops twice daily may get up to three lines improvement on vision assessment. Could this mean an increased freedom from specs without the need for scalpels or lasers? Professor Dick advises further studies are required to establish side- effects and broaden the available data.
References
1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
articles/c0qpz39jpj7o
2. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/
2025/oct/26/the-guardian-view-on-electronic
-implants-a-new-way-of-seeing-not-of-being
3. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/
mma/article-15231853/Tom-Aspinall
-aftermath-eye-injury-UFC.html
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/mixed-martial-arts/
articles/cwy5en185k4o
5. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/
article-15212955/Bond-villain
-DIAMOND-artificial-eye.html
6. https://www.aol.com/articles/did-ed-gein
-really-lazy-134658724.html
7. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/
2125029/man-halloween-swollen-eyeball
8. https://www.vice.com/en/
article/pickleball-is-exploding-in-popularity
-and-wrecking-players-faces/
9. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqlzqv1e114o
10. https://www.theguardian.com/
society/2025/sep/14/eye-drops-could-replace
-glasses-surgery-longsighted-study
[All links last accessed November 2025]
Declaration of competing interests: None declared.
