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Quiz Aug/Sep 2025

History A 78-year-old female presented with bilateral, painless, progressive blurring of vision over five years, photophobia and increasing glare. Her past medical history included a known diagnosis of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). On examination, vision in the left...

The results of the last survey Jun 2020

Firstly, my sincere thanks to those of you who responded to last edition’s survey. We had a record response. Laser was never my most exciting clinical treatment, but in this environment how I wish for even that degree of patient...

Third nerve palsy following cataract surgery with sub-Tenon’s anaesthesia

Figure 1: Photograph showing partial ptosis of the right eye two months after surgery (photo by R McLeod). An 83-year-old lady had routine right eye cataract surgery under uncomplicated sub-Tenon’s anaesthesia. She presented two weeks later, explaining that following the...

Eye lid lesion

A 46-year-old female farmer was referred by her local GP to the eye department with a history of gradually increasing upper eyelid lesion over 10 weeks, despite the patient being treated with topical and oral antibiotics. The patient was a...

Unilateral Single Wall Decompression of Thyroid Proptosis Following an Incidental Traumatic Injury

Case report A 69-year-old female with a long history of Grave’s ophthalmopathy was under routine follow-up when it was noted during a clinic visit that the amount of proptosis and lid retraction in her right eye had remarkably reduced. A...

Anaesthetic drops abuse

A 67-year-old retired female nurse presented with persistent, bilateral, non-healing (>6 weeks) corneal ulcers and stromal ring infiltrates (Figures 1 and 2). The epithelial defects were the result of chemical burns caused by her contact lenses which had been stored...

Applanation tonometry in the pandemic era: Are facial masks an obstacle to a correct intraocular pressure measurement?

Current recommendations in the UK advise on wearing any facial covering to prevent the spread of the coronavirus [1]. Whilst this is vital for patient and hospital staff safety, it has led to several changes in the approach to a...

How to pass the FRCOphth part 2 written

The part 2 written exam comprises of 180 multiple choice questions – spread over two 120-minute sessions. According to the most recent college exam reports, the pass rate ranged from 45 to 70% in 2019/2020. Most trainees seem to sit...

A trainee’s guide on how to prepare for the digital age of ophthalmology

As the pandemic rolls on, the past year has left many ophthalmic departments in disarray with ever-lengthening patient waiting-lists and increasing challenges in service delivery. Areas such as virtual clinics, telephone / video consultations have had to mature rapidly to...

How the other half live – ophthalmology training around the world

Ophthalmology speciality training is currently seven years in the UK without an additional fellowship. UK trainees are privileged to have a training programme that is held in high esteem across the world, but did you ever wonder what other trainees...

The orthoptic report – what does it all mean?

An orthoptist report may well look like a piece of Japanese Shodo, however, it does in fact contain some extremely useful information. This piece will briefly explain some of the common brush strokes seen on a report. There is some...