Eyeworld

66 April 2016 "We've had spectacular out- comes with the recent topography- guided LASIK clinical trial of the WaveLight laser from Alcon [Fort Worth, Texas]. We found that the majority of patients after treatment had visual acuities without cor- rection that were at least as good as what they had before surgery with correction. They also noticed an improvement in the quality of vision—a reduction in glare, ha- los, and driving difficulties. We're moving from an era when we had to warn patients that there was a compromise—that in order to be free from glasses they would have to accept some of these visual aberra- tions and visual complaints—to a day when we can offer patients a method of visual correction that's even better than their glasses or contact lenses. This new technology may also be applicable to patients with keratoconus and post-LASIK ectasia following corneal collagen crosslinking," he said, adding that this will be a topic included in his Binkhorst Lecture. Dr. Stulting has been perform- ing corneal collagen crosslinking ex- perimentally for more than 8 years and has seen the technology evolve to become much safer. He thinks that it will eventually become the standard treatment for keratoconus as soon as it is diagnosed. "Appro- priately applied, corneal collagen crosslinking could eliminate kera- toconus as a cause of visual loss in this country," he said. "It has been a real privilege to be involved in its development and to be able to offer it to my patients." EW Editors' note: Dr. Stulting has financial interests with Alcon. Contact information Stulting: dstulting@woolfsoneye.com complication of the procedure, Dr. Stulting said his group studied patients retrospectively to identify factors that might increase the risk of ectasia after LASIK. "We developed a method of determining the risk of ectasia for patients who were undergoing LASIK and implemented it to reduce the incidence of ectasia in our practice, and it has been adapted by others since that time," he said. "Many people recognized the same risk factors that we identified, but they didn't apply them in a consistent way, nor did they apply them simultaneously. One of the great benefits of the system that we developed is that it recognizes multi- ple risk factors, weighs each of them, and evaluates them simultaneously in a simple, easy-to-use format," he continued. "We know that refrac- tive error, age, topography, corneal thickness, and residual stromal bed thickness are all risk factors. If there is a slightly abnormal topography in a patient who is a little bit younger than average with a slightly thinner than normal cornea, there may be a high risk of ectasia, even though none of these factors would be red flags individually. Our system pro- vides a way for surgeons to evaluate multiple risk factors simultaneously using a simple chart." Dr. Stulting served as president of ASCRS from 2010–2011, in addi- tion to holding various leadership positions in other notable organiza- tions, such as the American Acade- my of Ophthalmology, the Eye Bank Association of America, and the Georgia Eye Bank. He was editor-in- chief of Cornea for 10 years; he has and continues to serve on several ed- itorial boards for medical magazines and peer-reviewed journals, includ- ing EyeWorld, the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, and the Journal of Refractive Surgery. Dr. Stulting's ultimate goal is to reduce the risk of refractive surgery and improve outcomes. study and practice of ophthalmic surgery. It is exactly this kind of tireless dedication to the advance- ment of the field that exemplifies recipients of the Binkhorst Medal," said Robert Cionni, MD, ASCRS president, in a statement. After graduating from Duke University in the 1970s, summa cum laude with a BS degree in chemis- try, followed by an MD and PhD in microbiology and immunology, Dr. Stulting completed a residency in internal medicine at Washington University in St. Louis and a residen- cy in ophthalmology at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami. He then completed a fellow- ship in cornea and external disease at Emory University and joined the teaching staff there. At Emory, he participated in the first LASIK clinical trials about the time the first refractive laser was approved for PRK by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He was also co-di- rector of the Collaborative Corneal Transplant Studies, a large clinical trial that established the effect of tissue typing on corneal transplant outcomes. He was director of the fellowship program in cornea and external disease from 1982–1995, director of the cornea service from 1992–2010, and Hughes professor of ophthalmology from 1999–2010. In 2010, he left Emory to found the Stulting Research Cen- ter at the Woolfson Eye Institute in Atlanta. Dr. Stulting maintains a full-time practice in corneal and external disease as well as a research component. He consults for many start-up companies to help them bring promising new technologies through the regulatory maze and make innovative new cures available to citizens of this country. Dr. Stulting's lecture, "Predicting and Treating Corneal Ectasia," at the ASCRS Opening General Session is a topic that has interested him for years, he said. During the early LASIK clinical trials and when ectasia was first reported as a Dr. Stulting will discuss ectatic corneal diseases and be honored with the Binkhorst Medal on May 7 D oyle Stulting, MD, PhD, Atlanta, has published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, led a number of clinical trials in ocular research, and earned nearly a dozen notable honors and awards. He will add one more honor to this list of accolades on Saturday, May 7. At the ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress in New Orleans, May 6–10, Dr. Stulting will be honored as the Binkhorst Medal recipient for his accomplishments, particularly in corneal transplantation, cornea and external disease, and refractive surgery. When asked if he ever thought he'd receive such an honor when he started off, graduating from Duke University as a doctor of medicine and doctor of philosophy in 1976 and 1975, respectively, he simply said "not really." "I was truly surprised when I heard I had received this honor be- cause I really didn't see myself in the same league as previous recipients of the award—I also didn't think I was that old," he joked. The Binkhorst Lecture and Med- al were established in 1975 to honor Cornelius D. Binkhorst, MD, for his work on intraocular lenses. Since then, ASCRS has awarded the medal to others in the field who have made significant contributions in anterior segment surgery. "Dr. Stulting's research efforts have been vital to advancing the EW ASCRS•ASOA 2016 ASCRS•ASOA Program Preview • May 6–10, 2016 by Liz Hillman EyeWorld Staff Writer Doyle Stulting, MD, PhD, to present Binkhorst Lecture Doyle Stulting, MD, PhD

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