Refractive
July 2023
by Karolinne Rocha, MD, PhD
Refractive Editor
Topmost on any physician’s mind is improving clinical outcomes. By design, the best practices issue aids us all in this endeavor by providing a venue with which we can share those steps, policies, and procedures we’ve put into place and found to be more effective in the delivery of cataract and refractive surgery—and our colleagues delivered.
In “Equipment updates advancing refractive surgery,” Renato Ambrosio Jr., MD, PhD, and Y. Ralph Chu, MD, share how to use technology to improve the assessment of ectasia risk. Specifically, Dr. Ambrosio employs corneal tomography, biomechanics, and epithelial thickness mapping along with advanced dry eye diagnostic technologies among the screening procedures, which have improved patient outcomes. He mentions his publication in the American Journal of Ophthalmology and American Ophthalmological Society thesis on how artificial intelligence can improve interpretation of Scheimpflug tomography and corneal biomechanics to reduce the risk of corneal ectasia, which he shares more on in the article.
Best practices, or our continued efforts to improve the safety, quality, and consistency of eyecare, improve patients’ quality of vision. This issue is chock full of kernels of knowledge to take in for your own practice.
I stress the importance of a strong clinical and past medical history to the preoperative procedures. In doing so, I’m considering the patient’s age, refractive stability, corneal tomography, biomechanics, ablation profile, and how those factors, including genetic testing, could impact patients’ outcomes and tailor our approach with that information in mind.
Looking at improving contrast sensitivity for our patients, Daniel Chang, MD, and George Waring IV, MD, discuss how light-filtering technology can enhance vision quality. With the wealth of LED lights we interact with on a daily basis, this could lead to meaningful adjustments for our presbyopia-correcting IOL patients.
Part of what we’re doing in preoperative procedures is communicating with the patient to lay the groundwork to manage their expectations going into surgery, a process that continues postoperatively. Joseph Ling, MD, and James Loden, MD, take this topic on in “The refractive postop experience.” It is a crucial step of every single case: Ensure the patient knows exactly what to expect after LASIK, PRK, SMILE, or refractive cataract procedures.
Best practices, or our continued efforts to improve the safety, quality, and consistency of eyecare, improve patients’ quality of vision. This issue is chock full of kernels of knowledge to take in for your own practice. I wish you many successful patient outcomes.
