The past few decades of surgery since the ‘mad cow disease’ have been dominated by a push to switch to disposable instruments. The reason is to prevent cross-contamination and reduce the risk of surgical site infections – especially so with...
The UCL Institute of Ophthalmology Summer School 2025 was held in collaboration with Moorfields Eye Hospital run by Gordon Hay and Tara Bader. This was a comprehensive five-day course attended by medical students and resident doctors from around the world....
2 June 2025
| Connor Henry-Blake, Elisabeth Baggus, Muhammed Jawad
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EYE - General
During 2008–2009, 300,000 patients presented to hospital emergency departments in the UK with eye conditions. This rose by nearly 200,000 over the next decade. As the population ages, the prevalence of eye disease increases [1,2]. However, the stake ophthalmology holds...
Marek P Karas from sightloss charity SeeAbility examines why children with a learning disability do not access the eye care they need and asks how the system needs to change. Children with a learning disability are 28 times more likely...
Organising a national teaching series is both deeply rewarding and surprisingly complex. It requires more than just good content – it demands a well-thought-out purpose, seamless logistics, strong communication and meaningful evaluation. Over the past year, I had the opportunity...
My six-week elective in ophthalmology at Westmead Hospital in Sydney offered much more than technical mastery; it challenged my assumptions about patient care, teaching and the role of curiosity in medicine. Though my passion for eyes was ignited by my...
Cataracts are still a leading cause of blindness and, with an ageing population, that burden will only grow [1]. Increasingly experts are leaning on technology such as ‘Surgery 4.0’ [2] – where smart machines and artificial intelligence (AI) slide into...
In a recent discussion with colleagues, someone recognised that many, when asked what they do, say, “I am a doctor”. Rather than “I work as a doctor”. This sense of belonging, pride and duty comes with responsibility. Becoming a surgeon,...
Providing ongoing professional education and development for the allied professions out of the clinic or hospital setting is often quite challenging. The reorganisation of rotas, heavy clinic lists and financial constraints all add up to making the opportunity to learn...
SeeAbility achieves Guinness World Records title to highlight the tens of thousands of children with learning disabilities and autism missing out on basic eye care. National charity SeeAbility has achieved a huge GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for: “Most participants featured...
With experts predicting that global blindness will triple by 2050, and the number of people requiring eyecare already outpacing the number of trained ophthalmologists, eyecare training has never been more vital. Traditional in-person ophthalmic training has been curtailed by the...