Steve Schallhorn: Fighter Pilot. In the spring of 1987, I travelled to the cinema at Hendon Central in London with some school friends to watch the newly released movie The Witches of Eastwick starring Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer. Unfortunately...
The case of Hadiza Bawa-Garba has left all of us in the UK medical profession with an uncomfortable taste in our mouths. We all know that we work under pressure and we will inevitably make mistakes. We all know that...
It is always nice to get a thank you card, especially so when it comes from someone at the tail end of an overbooked clinic who had waited patiently well past their appointed slot. Such was the case when I...
A 48-year-old female has had multiple drug treatment for glaucoma and is still losing field of vision. How do you manage this over time? This patient is at high-risk for going blind and should be managed aggressively to protect remaining...
Simerdip Kaur takes a look at the latest ophthalmology-related news stories and asks which are based on facts and which are ‘fake news’. Headline: Patients blinded by stem cells! How safe are they really? Ever since the successful results following...
Supercomputer: “The answer to the great question of Life, the Universe and Everything is…”Programmer: “Yes…?”Supercomputer: “42. It was a tough assignment”.Programmer: “42? Is that all you have got to show for seven and a half million years work?” In this...
3 April 2026
| Aoife Shanahan, Archith Kamath
|
EYE - General
Getting into ophthalmology training has become increasingly competitive in recent years. In 2025, the competition ratio rose to over 21:1, compared to 3:1 in 2019 [1,2]. Similar trends are seen across other specialties, with over 30,000 doctors applying for just...
There are a growing number of statisticians working closely with ophthalmologists. They have different training but they are driven by the same goal: to perform high quality evidence based clinical research [1,2]. In a perfect world we would simply conduct...
Medical school electives offer valuable opportunities to gain exposure to different healthcare systems and bridge specific gaps in training. While clinical electives are often the primary choice for medical students, research-focused electives also present unique benefits, particularly for those interested...
IIH is a medical condition where the intracranial pressure (ICP) is raised without an obvious cause. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is produced in by the choroid plexus in the lateral ventricles and the roof of the third and fourth ventricles,...
It would have been hard to miss all the attention chatbots have received over the last few months. Whilst ChatGPT is easily the most well-known example of the large language models that have become so widespread of late, artificial intelligence...
One morning in September ’95, about a month into my first house job on the South Coast of England, I emerged from the ridiculously early ward round on the coronary care unit feeling a bit dazed and therefore headed off...