Search

Leadership and management in optometry: why is it important?

The General Medical Council recognises that leadership and management is essential for every doctor, and provides guidance detailing management and leadership responsibilities [1]. Indeed, management and leadership is part of the core training for all medical trainees. However, to date,...

Shifting the paradigm of managing patients in medical retina: how real-world data can help us to improve clinical practice

The ophthalmic subspecialty of ‘medical retina’ has undergone dramatic changes in recent years. With the introduction of ranibizumab (Lucentis, Novartis), a specialty formerly dominated by laser-based therapies has been transformed to become, in large part, pharmacotherapy-based. To date, these pharmacotherapies...

Blinking blepharitis has a lot to answer for…

Never ignore the small things’…someone once said. There is no doubt blepharitis is one of the most common eye conditions encountered daily, but with the typical pressures of a busy outpatient department, the management of more obvious, sight-threatening conditions necessarily...

Diary from my elective: a Parisian experience

The author explains how a research institute’s dedication to multidisciplinary collaboration helped him to discover a passion for academic ophthalmology. The elective aspect to the final year of a medical degree, through its change of scenery and immersion into another...

100 years of insulin

*Joint first authors The centenary of the discovery of insulin is a time to celebrate one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 20th century. Background Before 1923, Type 1 diabetes mellitus [T1DM] resulted in death from severe ketoacidosis...

Congenital and paediatric cataract: Advances in diagnosis and management

Congenital and paediatric cataracts are relatively rare, although prevalence varies significantly between countries, influenced by factors such as nutrition, immunisation policy and population genetics [1]. In the UK, around 3–4 of every 10,000 babies are born with cataracts. It’s a...

Innovations in ophthalmology: what can the innovations of the past teach us about tomorrow?

BUOS Prize Essay – 2nd prize winner for 2013 submissions Introduction An essay titled Innovations in Ophthalmology might choose to focus on the history; from cataract couching to femtosecond lasers, ophthalmology has had no shortage of topics worthy of discussion....

Part 1: The Arclight Project – Frugal tech for sight

Click here for Part 2 on this topic, and here for Part 3 The Arclight Project is a mix of frugal design, manufacturing, distribution, teaching, research, and advocacy, all wrapped up in a social enterprise based at the University of...

The use of toxin in paediatric strabismus

Strabismus is a common condition that affects up to 5% children and can be associated with abnormal visual development, double vision, loss of depth perception and impaired binocularity [1]. It can also cause cosmetic concerns, negatively impact psychosocial wellbeing and...

Pathophysiology of diabetic macular oedema: why combination therapy may be better

The prevalence of diabetes has continued to increase over the years. It is currently estimated that there are 382 million with diabetes worldwide in 2013, and that this figure is expected to rise to 592 million by 2035 [1]. In...