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NICE drugs: an update on what’s good to go

Treatment options recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) must be readily available for use in the NHS of England and Wales. This article provides an overview of recent guidance from NICE and summary advice issued...

Redefining healthcare through the eyes

The future of healthcare is being shaped by innovation in eyecare and in particular a field known as oculomics. This discipline leverages ocular biomarkers to provide insights into various health conditions, including cardiovascular diseases and psychological or neurological disorders [1]....

Optometrist found guilty of manslaughter

To start our new Optometry section, editor Janet Pooley takes a look at the tragic death of Vincent Barker and asks what lessons can be learned. In August, Optometrist Honey Rose was found guilty of the manslaughter of eight-year-old Vincent...

IN FOCUS - The achievements and lasting effects of VISION 2020

Blindness is a major public health problem globally. The first estimate of global blindness by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1972 provided a figure of 10 to 15 million, which was considered an underestimate [1]. In 1999, an extraordinary...

Sickle cell eye disease: an overview of vitreoretinal complications and their surgical management

Sickle cell disease is the most common genetic disorder worldwide and is associated with lifelong anaemia, intermittent pain and multi-organ morbidity. Ocular involvement can be associated with significant visual impairment due to the complications of proliferative sickle retinopathy (PSR). Occasionally...

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...

How to examine the visual system Part 2: Accommodation, pupils, fundoscopy and additional tests

Examining the visual system can be a tricky skill for medical students to master, yet it is a task that is frequently tested in examinations. This is the second of a two-part series of articles, which together aim to improve...

The International AMD Genomics Consortium study: another success in understanding the complex genetics of AMD

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a neurodegenerative complex disease of the eye and a major cause of blindness and visual impairment among the elderly worldwide. The early stages of the disease are characterised by asymptomatic pigmentary abnormalities and accumulation of...

Well-presented scholarly research work will reduce chances of journal rebuttal

Submitting to an academic journal? Are you aware of the requirements and constraints of relevant copyright laws? Rod McNeil provides a guide for aspiring authors. Getting published in peer-reviewed academic and medical journals is not easy. But careful attention to...

An introduction to research governance

Research is the process of acquiring new generalisable knowledge and should be fully integrated into health care work. There is a growing drive to encourage and further develop evidence-based practice in ophthalmology so that staff and patients benefit from improved...