January 2014 Issue of The Ophthalmologist

Gene therapy for ocular disease will soon be available. Stem cell therapies too. They may be able to cure the currently untreatable, but at what price? And will anyone pay it?

Transplanting pancreatic Islets of Langerhans into the ocular anterior chamber of the eye allows researchers to effectively monitor ?-cell function.

Americans love their cars and in many places you’re virtually stranded if you don’t drive. So does vision loss stop elderly Americans from driving?

The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issues a safety alert for Cosopt preservative-free single-dose eye drops

OCT imaging visualizes retinal nerve fiber layers and the thickness of the macula; abnormalities in either can predict the stage and duration of schizophrenia.

The media have been building up “eyeball jewelry” as a potential craze, but the evidence suggests otherwise

While other pharmaceutical companies are buying into ophthalmology, Pfizer is heading for the hills

The pupil of the eye is dark, and the cornea highly reflective – it acts as a mirror. Combine this with high resolution photography, and you get a whole new vista.

Growing evidence for the key role played by VEGF in the normal adult eye now demands that ophthalmologists give careful consideration to the use of anti-VEGF therapies.

A novel method for preparation of Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) grafts is here. It uses a punch but doesn’t lay a finger (or forceps) on the corneal endothelial cells.

Practical pearls and possible pitfalls for the general cataract surgeon

Intracorneal ring segment and phakic IOL implantation: a refractive solution for patients with keratoconus and high myopia

The EMA approved the first gene therapy agent in 2012 – for lipoprotein lipase deficiency. Might gene therapies for ophthalmic disease reach the wards any time soon?

A new drug, ALG-1001, that blocks the transmembrane receptors that cells use to attach to their surroundings, has the potential to treat a range of retinovascular diseases

For all of us associated with healthcare, it should be apparent that our world is on the cusp of a significant change.

Academic ophthalmologists are expected to be effective teachers but receive little or no instruction on teaching methodology.

Sitting Down With Carrie MacEwen, Consultant Ophthalmologist at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, Scotland, and President-Elect of the UK Royal College of Ophthalmologists

Ranking the 100 most influential people in ophthalmology. Which clinicians and researchers have the biggest impact on our field?