Cornea
Spring 2024

by Julie Schallhorn, MD
Cornea Editor

This issue’s articles focus on some of the toughest cases a cornea specialist will see: limbal stem cell deficiency and peripheral ulcerative keratitis. Dealing with either of these conditions is not for the faint of heart and requires a determined clinician with a deep breadth of knowledge and a network of specialists to rely on for systemic care. As Edward Holland, MD, and Albert Cheung, MD, emphasize in their editorial, working together to care for these patients and establishing reliable referral networks is key to caring for these patients.

Not every clinician has the time or the experience to manage a complex patient requiring multi-specialty care. This is inherent in our field—akin to sending a patient with wet macular degeneration to a retinal specialist or a patient with binocular diplopia to a strabismus specialist. The difficulty is recognizing when a patient in one’s own field needs referral care. Equally as difficult is taking the steps to expand your breadth of knowledge and develop a network to care for these complex patients.

The articles in this issue represent a challenge to corneal specialists—a challenge to develop the centers necessary to treat LSCD and other complex corneal conditions or to refer these patients to providers who have. Reading them made me feel a renewed energy and commitment to patient care, and I hope you feel the same.