Search

The screening and treatment of retinopathy of prematurity

A male child is born at 31 weeks and requires 100% oxygen supplementation with intensive care. What would be the ophthalmic management of this child? In the first instance, it will be useful to know the screening criteria and protocol....

Non-organic visual loss

Patients can present to eye departments with various signs and symptoms (mostly symptoms) with no obvious organic cause. These patients can be labelled with any of a wide range of diagnoses such as functional visual loss, functional overlay, psychosomatic reaction...

It’s not always GCA

Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is an immune mediated granulomatous inflammatory disease that affects muscular middle or large sized arteries. It is considered as a continuation of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) when the severity of the disease has increased. It is the...

Traumatic optic neuropathy

In neuro-ophthalmology we get asked a lot about management of patients who suffered significant trauma and presented with loss of vision secondary to presumed traumatic optic neuropathy (TON). TON happens usually in the context of significant craniofacial trauma. The incidence...

Neurofibromatosis type 2 – diagnosis, features and MDT approach

NF2 is a genetic condition caused by mutation in a single gene (NF2 gene) on chromosome 22. The NF2 gene provides instructions to produce a protein called merlin, also known as schwannomin. This protein functions as a tumour suppressor, preventing...

How to nearly (but not quite) get into ST1 ophthalmology training – some reflections

Ophthalmology is often considered to be an elite, highly competitive specialty, with little room for failure. Candidates and trainees tend to cultivate a certain urbane and confident style, and the bottleneck at ST1 can feel rather intense. The majority of...

Surgical strategies to manage incomitant strabismus in adults

Incomitant vertical and / or horizontal strabismus is a challenging presentation. Patients are usually symptomatic as the onset is either sudden so they haven’t developed any coping mechanisms or very complex so that any coping mechanisms will not cover all...

Supranuclear ocular motility disorders

Figure 1: Bilateral INO Introduction Complex ocular motility disorders are a diagnostic challenge. These patients come with very complex ocular motility presentations and require a careful and detailed assessment in order to find the correct diagnosis and arrange appropriate investigations....

Myopia-related strabismus – heavy eye syndrome

Introduction Myopia can be associated with any type of strabismus, but high myopia has increased frequency of esotropia and vertical heterotropia. The incidence and severity of the strabismus increases with the degree of myopia and age of the patient. Classification...

Commonest mistakes during the refraction certificate exam

Ophthalmology specialty trainees are required to pass the refraction certificate exam within the first two years of training. If one passes this exam before entering a training programme, this can add two points to the portfolio during applications. In this...