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Digital eyecare – enabling better communication between primary and secondary care

Alexander Chiu and his co-authors highlight innovations influencing healthcare advancement and how trainees can get involved. Hospital eye services (HES) were under great pressure to meet demand, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. This pressure has increased with the cancellation and...

The power of the full blood count

Vishal Shah walks us through his thought process whilst highlighting the importance of routine investigations when dealing with unusual retinovascular presentations. Retinal changes can arise in anaemia, leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloproliferative and myelodysplastic syndrome. They are often the first manifestation of...

Orbital cellulitis - an overview of the diagnosis and management

Periorbital (preseptal) and orbital cellulitis are infections of the subcutaneous tissues of the eye. They are differentiated by the location of the infection. Periorbital cellulitis refers to infection of the eyelid and subcutaneous tissues anterior to the orbital septum, whereas...

Ocular bubbly: a vitreoretinal update on the art of gases

The authors remind us of the revolutionary impact gases have had on retinal surgery. In 1938, Rosengren attempted to improve his retina repair surgical outcomes [1]. He discovered that suturing the retina or pressing externally on the sclera were not...

A case of congenital lacrimal fistula: an overview of diagnosis and management

Shivam Goyal and Kyaw Htun Aye describe the challenges of dealing with a rare case of congenitial lacrimal fistula.We present a case of a 19-month-old baby with a congenital abnormality. Congenital lacrimal fistulae are a spot diagnosis due to its...

The 2021-2022 ophthalmology ST1 application process

Harry Rosen updates us on what is involved in the current UK Ophthalmology Specialist Training (OST) programme application process. The process of applying to the UK Ophthalmology Specialist Training (OST) programme is constantly changing each year, adapting to the needs...

How to write and publish a case report – tips and common pitfalls

Ophthalmology is an extremely popular specialty, with the competition ratio at ST1 level entry being 10:1 in 2023 [1]. Consequently, applicants are required to achieve higher portfolio scores to remain competitive. For those considering a career in ophthalmology, two points...

An interview with Professor John Forrester

What made you choose ophthalmology as a career and how did your interest in academia develop? During Medical School at Glasgow University, I was getting progressively disillusioned with the career options while my colleagues and friends all seemed to quickly...

A near miss

A 55-year-old gentleman presented with a ‘blurry patch’ to his left eye which he had noticed for the past two months. The visual acuity with correction was 6/5 in the right eye and 6/6 in the left eye on the...

In vivo confocal microscopy, principles and use in keratitis Part 1: Principles

In 1968 Maurice introduced the concept of high powered specular microscopy, it was in that very year that the first scanning confocal microscope was proposed. Marvin Minsky developed the first confocal microscope in 1955 named the ‘double focusing scanning microscope’....

Light in darkness – manual small incision cataract surgery in India

Cataract has been documented to be the most significant cause of bilateral blindness in India, where vision <20/200 in the better eye on presentation is defined as blindness [1,2]. Estimation of blindness in India by the World Health Organization (WHO)...

The ‘art’ of refraction – designing a refraction course

Learning how to refract requires theoretical knowledge, practice and determination. Refraction is a notoriously challenging skill to acquire and the competing demands on junior ophthalmologists can often be restrictive of the development of this core skill. To consolidate theory learnt...