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Doing a systematic review: a users’ guide for foundation doctors

Research is increasingly important for junior doctors and systematic reviews (SRs) are a great place to start. Carrying out an SR can help a doctor demonstrate commitment to a specialty, develop research skills and get results quickly. This article aims...

Emerging developments in dry eye

An estimated 344 million people worldwide suffer from dry eye [1]. This chronic syndrome is characterised by a vicious cycle of tear film hyperosmolarity, tear instability and corneal stress, leading to increased friction, inflammation, ocular surface damage and decreased visual...

Effective management of dry eye and ocular surface disease

Experts recommend a consistent approach to diagnosis, therapeutic targeting by disease subtype and escalation of therapy when tear substitutes are not sufficient. Experts call for a consistent, unified approach to diagnosis of dry eye disease (DED), with a new simple...

Periocular burns: a literature review of classification, management protocols and outcomes of treatment

The author provides a review of the current literature regarding the principles of classification, management protocols of acute ocular and periocular burns and the role of the burn and oculoplastic surgeon involved in their care. More than two-thirds of facial...

Eyes on the road – visual standards for car drivers

The author examines the current visual standards required by drivers and asks whether more needs to be done to make roads safer. Are the public adequately protected by the current system of visual standards required by drivers? In a survey...

Clinical relevance of the anatomic classification of neovascular age-related macular degeneration

The author explains why an OCT-based classification of neovascular AMD is needed and how these neovascular subtypes may help to predict patients’ long-term visual outcome. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative process involving the macula in...

Diabetes and diabetic retinopathy: Changes in understanding of the disease over the last 25 years and how the UK is helping low-income countries tackle the challenges

Diabetes – a historical perspective Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease caused by inherited and / or acquired deficiency in production of insulin by the pancreas, or by the ineffectiveness of the insulin produced. Such a deficiency results in...

25 years of OCT

David Huang first described optical coherence tomography (OCT) in 1991, in his seminal paper on the subject in Science. This method developed the work of others on ophthalmic interferometry, which essentially showed that measuring reflected light could be used to...

The role of inflammation in the pathophysiology of DMO

Diabetic macular oedema (DMO) is a major cause of visual loss in diabetes, with a complex multifactorial pathogenesis. In the UK alone it is estimated that there are nearly 2.5 million diabetic patients aged over 12 years. Approximately 65,000 of...

Paediatric ptosis

Manoj Parulekar and colleagues provide a comprehensive overview of the diagnosis, assessment and management of childhood ptosis. Blepharoptosis (commonly referred to as ptosis – Greek, πτῶσις, ‘to fall’) is a condition where the upper eyelid is in an abnormally low...