Eyeworld

JULY 2023 | EYEWORLD | 3 by Sumit "Sam" Garg, MD Chief Medical Editor Best practices arise when experts agree on how to approach various clinical scenarios. Collectively, these best practices help guide approaches to patient care, research, surgery, billing, practice management—basically any and all aspects of our professional lives. Many of the best practices I follow have come from attending the ASCRS Annual Meeting and ex- ploring the educational content available on the ASCRS website. This issue of EyeWorld is focused on best practices. We cover topics pertinent to all of our membership including diagnostics and how to approach cataract and refractive patients, cur- rent management of blepharitis, DMEK in the glaucoma patient, management of uveitic glau- coma, preparation of the eye prior to surgery, pearls for goniotomy and canal-based surgery, YAG capsulotomy, and handling the postopera- tive refractive surgery patient. As we come away from the ASCRS Annu- al Meeting in San Diego, I will share one of my favorite best practices I took away from the meeting. Vance Thompson, MD, closed out the Refractive Day program by delivering the Steinert Refractive Lecture. Dr. Thompson covered topics related to corneal refractive surgery and refractive cataract surgery, but he emphasized that the success of his practice is due to the overall approach toward his patients and staff. "The most powerful thing that has led to the growth of our seven centers in the upper Midwest is how we love and care for each other and our patients," he said. Despite our ability to treat a patient's medical condition, it is how we treat them and make them feel that will leave the most long-lasting impression on them. That is certainly a best practice. It was great meeting many of you in San Diego. As always, if you have any suggestions for topics, improvements, etc., feel free to reach out to me at gargs@uci.edu. " T here is more than one way to skin a cat." This old prov- erb certainly rings true when it comes to medicine and surgery. Although the majority of what we do is based in science and fundamentals, many times we rely on the "art" of medicine as we gain ex- perience delivering care to our patients. ASCRS has its roots in those who looked to challenge the status quo and approach anterior segment surgery in new and innovative ways. With this came a rapid evolution of cataract surgery and associated technologies. Through years of practice, refinement, and consensus, cataract surgery has become one of the most successful and safest surgeries offered to patients around the world. Despite our training in residency, which often focuses on fundamentals, we learn much of our real-world medicine from experience and clinical practice. However, we cannot experience everything on our own. Learning from each other allows for greater perspective and knowl- edge. I have always found that I learn the most from listening and talking to my colleagues and those who are experts in their respective fields. For example, I first learned how to perform intrascleral haptic fixation by attending a pre- sentation by Amar Agarwal, MD, at the ASCRS Annual Meeting. A few years later, I learned about a similar but different technique from Shin Yamane, MD, PhD. Since those presenta- tions, I have learned about modifications and enhancements that have resulted in an evolu- tion of how I approach secondary IOL fixation for my patients. Often, the first go at something is not the best. Ultimately, continued innovation and refinement of technique and approach leads to best practices. Continued innovation and refinement of technique and approach leads to best practices

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