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Use of a smartphone repair microscope for microsurgical suturing simulation

Suturing ocular tissues under microscopic guidance is a skill that has declined in frequency, with the majority of cataract operations being sutureless. With the recent COVID-19 outbreak, training opportunities in theatre have declined further, given elective surgery cancellations. Subsequently, trainees...

Herpes zoster ophthalmicus: the essentials

Herpes zoster, also referred to as shingles, is a common infection most typically caused by the reactivation of varicella zoster virus that lies dormant (sometime for decades) in the dorsal root nerve ganglion following primary chickenpox infection [1]. In 10-20%...

Usher syndrome: an overview

Usher syndrome is the most common hereditary condition that affects both vision and hearing. It is an autosomal recessive condition characterised by retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and bilateral sensorineural hearing loss [1,2]. Usher syndrome is the cause of approximately 10% of...

My work experience with Great Ormond Street Hospital Young Persons’ Advisory Group for Research

For my school work experience I had the amazing opportunity to attend and work with the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) Young Persons’ Advisory Group for research (YPAG) (Figure 1). The GOSH YPAG is a group of young people aged...

Could Twitter boost the impact of ophthalmic journal articles?

*Equally contributing co-first authors. The authors investigate the link between ‘tweets’ and citations for 155 articles from five key ophthalmology journals. Social media’s impact on our lives has been significant, allowing easy discussion of topics worldwide. An increasing number of...

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...

My Top Five: Ophthalmology TikTok accounts, educating and entertaining both the public and trainees

In the modern world, our electronic devices have now become an extension of ourselves, with our reliance and use of them of comparable importance to an arm or a leg. The importance of electronic devices can also be seen in...

My Top Five: Digital ophthalmology revision resources for medical students

Ophthalmology is a broad and exciting field to study but encountering the vast number of topics it contains for the first time in medical school can be a daunting prospect. Building a solid foundation of knowledge in the subject is...

My Top Five: Ophthalmology Twitter accounts

There are approximately 4.2 billion active social media users worldwide. This figure represents over half of the global population and is steadily rising [1]. There are currently over 217 million active Twitter users and given the platform’s versatility and ability...

My ophthalmology taster week experience at Whipps Cross Eye Treatment Centre

Deciding to explore ophthalmology Having read about ophthalmology, I have always found myself fascinated about what a career in ophthalmology entails. I have often wondered what ophthalmologists actually do, as we as medical students did not have a lot of...

Ophthalmology elective: a local experience

Dr Rajan Sondh talks about medical electives and how he believes they are an opportunity to explore career interests, giving undergraduates an opportunity to develop skills in areas that they wouldn’t normally encounter on placements. Typically, electives are taken abroad,...

The last three patients: general medicine (Patient Two)

For the second reflection in this series (see Patient One here), Professor Jonathan Rees recounts his experiences of the last patient he saw as a medical registrar, telling the tragic story of a young man’s death and the risks that...