Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 16 February 2017 by Maxine Lipner EyeWorld Senior Contributing Writer and EyeWorld has been at the lead of working with ophthalmologists to provide the information needed to improve outcomes for patients." Dr. Donnenfeld credits the great outcomes with LASIK today in part to the distribution of infor- mation and the new techniques and technology that have been developed and discussed in EyeWorld since its inception. Dr. Donnenfeld pointed to early high infection rates linked to unknown risk factors for post-PRK infection with atypical mycobacteria. "EyeWorld had early articles about not using nonsterile water around the eye," he said. "The advances in refractive surgery that brought us to where it is today have a lot to do with the interest that ophthalmologists developed due to the communication they receive from EyeWorld on a monthly basis," Dr. Donnenfeld said. Refractive corneal surgery has gone through several incremental improvements, from PRK, to LASIK, to wavefront and topographic LASIK, to femtosecond flaps. "In 2016, we had the most exciting year in laser surgery since 20 years ago, with the approval of three new major technologies that have advanced the field," Dr. Donnenfeld said, citing the FDA approval of the SMILE technique, topographic laser ablations (Alcon, Fort Worth, Texas), and iDesign advanced wavefront technology (Abbott Medical Optics). "Refractive surgery has never been more vibrant, and EyeWorld has been covering these advances on a regular basis and keeping ophthalmologists who are interested in refractive sur- gery up to date," he said. When Michael Knorz, MD, in private practice, Mannheim, Germa- ny, reflects on the refractive issues of the last 20 years from an interna- tional perspective, he also sees great strides. "LASIK was certainly the most important procedure intro- duced," Dr. Knorz said, adding that another important related devel- opment reported on by EyeWorld was wavefront LASIK. Use of the femtosecond laser to improve LASIK and femtosecond LASIK were other milestones, he continued. Dr. Knorz views the development of the Visian ICL (STAAR Surgical, Monrovia, California) as key, explain- A continuation of the retrospective on EyeWorld's news coverage as part of the 20th anniversary celebration T he last 20 years have brought a bevy of changes in both the refractive and corneal realms. If you're Rip Van Winkle and you've just woken up after putting down the inaugural EyeWorld from October 1996, here are some of the refractive and corneal issues you may have missed. Refractive surgery coverage EyeWorld's initial launch coincided with the dawn of modern refractive surgery, said Eric Donnenfeld, MD, Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island, New York, who headed up the magazine's Refractive section before becoming its chief medical editor in 2015. "It was 20 years ago that the Summit [Summit Technol- ogy, Waltham, Massachusetts] and VISX [Abbott Medical Optics, Abbott Park, Illinois] lasers were approved for excimer laser photoablation," Dr. Donnenfeld said. "EyeWorld and laser corneal surgery were born at the same time and have grown up together." Practitioners have seen some amazing developments in this period. "During that time, we have seen some dramatic changes in the way that refractive corneal surgery has been performed," he said, add- ing that EyeWorld has been there to discuss these changes. Many times the publication has taken leadership in providing information that oph- thalmologists need to become better refractive surgeons, Dr. Donnenfeld said. Early on, there was a myriad of complications to tackle. "In the early days of PRK and LASIK, there were problems of pain management, haze, and scarring, and refractive outcomes were not nearly what they are today," Dr. Donnenfeld said. In 1996, all LASIK flaps were made by microkeratome, which had some issues. "The big problems were flap folds and lost flaps with keratomes," he said. "These problems that exist- ed 20 years ago have been resolved, New world for refractive and corneal surgery Featuring … LASIK and PRK Targeting accuracy — P. 36 LASIK results — P. 38 LASIK, PRK case reports — P. 40 New technologies — P. 42 Table of contents P. 4, 6 Examining hooks and expanders — P. 20 VOL. 19, NUMBER 8 August 2014 The News Magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery USA Upcoming World Cornea Congress — P. 3 Age and corneal transplants — P. 34 Femto for glaucoma — P. 52 digital.eyeworld.org Featuring: Corneal collagen crosslinking Incorporating the procedure into practice — P. 78 Epi-off vs. epi-on debate continues — P. 80 Corneal crosslinking's refractive possibilities — P. 84 Deciding when to use crosslinking — P. 86 Crosslinking in new therapeutic areas — P. 88 Table of contents P. 4, 6, 8 Fixing a toric IOL that has dislocated into vitreous cavity after retina surgery — P. 40 VOLUME 21, NUMBER 9 September 2016 The news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery USA digital.eyeworld.org An ASCRS Publication Tracking and avoiding IOL errors — P. 112 AAO city preview — P. 58 Intracorneal ring segment use — P. 72 The August 2014 issue of EyeWorld (top) featured a series on LASIK and PRK, and the September 2016 issue (bottom) featured crosslinking.

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