This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Research a career option for young ophthalmologists to consider
Alessandro Abbouda, MD, discusses his study of contact lens-wearing habits and hygiene behaviors of teenagers.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Life as an ophthalmology resident is busy with steep learning curves for both clinical and surgical skills. However, finding time for research can be rewarding and lead to a different career path. Alessandro Abbouda believes that research experience ultimately improves the care we give our patients and tells us how his career turned more academic as a young ophthalmologist.
Anthony P. Khawaja, MB BS, MA(Cantab), MPhil, FRCOphth
Chair of the SOE Young Ophthalmologists committee
Since the beginning of my residency, I have been involved with a research team. I enjoy the research aspect, and I firmly believe this is the first step to be able to improve our knowledge and provide the best care to our patients.
In my second year of residency, I decided to develop my first epidemiological study. I was excited to write a real protocol, to choose the appropriate statistical method to apply for this project, to start to use statistical software, and to follow each step of the article production from writing to submission. The topic I chose to evaluate was contact lens care among teenage students in Italy. At the beginning, my professor was not so interested in this research. The contact lens field has always been a forgotten topic for ophthalmologists. It represents a border territory between ophthalmology and optician skills.
I decided to analyze this subject for two reasons. The first was that my skills in ophthalmology in my second year of residency were limited, and I felt that I would be able to manage this topic alone without any help. Secondly, I followed three young patients who developed serious corneal complications related to suboptimal care of their contact lenses, and these situations struck me. I started to think about how I could prevent other teenagers from suffering from the same disease. How could I teach them the correct behavior to apply regarding contact lenses?
From this idea, my research started to grow.
The aim of my study was to assess the attitude and practice of contact lens wearers among teenage school students and to create a questionnaire to evaluate how much teenagers adhere to the contact lens care procedures and proper care guidelines of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and British Contact Lens Association.
I developed a questionnaire regarding lens-wearing habits and hygiene behaviors. The questionnaire has 37 questions. The 37 questions are divided into five subgroups: lens wear modality and lens type; artificial tear use; contact lens symptoms; contact lens cleaning; and contact lens habits. I investigated 3,106 students, and 293 of them wore contact lenses (9%). One hundred fifty-one of those (52%) completed the questionnaire. I previously described responses for each question of the questionnaire, but now I would like to focus on the section of the questionnaire related to contact lens habits.
Seventeen students (34%) used disposable lenses two or more times. The majority of students (62.2%) washed their hands before touching the lens, but only 46.3% dried their hands before touching the lens. A total of 16.5% wore a lens that fell in the washbasin, but 72.8% did not wear the lens if it fell on the ground. A total of 35.8% did not wear contact lenses in the sea and 41.7% did not wear lenses in the pool. The same behavior was reported regarding the shower: 35.8% did not wear lenses during a shower. Fortunately, the majority (85.4%) did not use running water to wet their contact lenses. Few people occasionally slept with lenses (0.7%). One female participant reported trading her contact lens with another person at some time. The majority of females (59.6%) applied makeup after wearing a contact lens.
Analyzing these results, it appears that current strategies to educate contact lens users regarding optimal procedures are failing. The recommendations provided by eye care practitioners may be too variable, suggesting more effective practitioner educational programs to potentially eliminate this problem. New strategies would be to identify high schools as potential educational areas with the aim of maximizing contact lens safety in the teenage population.
My questionnaire needs to be administered to a large population to evaluate repeatability and validity. I have additionally given the questionnaire to my patients to give them an idea of their compliance and to explain their mistakes regarding contact lens handling.
After this article, my curiosity in research increased. I started to read a lot, and I gained knowledge and experience in ophthalmology. I had an opportunity to spend 1 year as a clinical research fellow at Vissum Corporation under the guidance of Jorge L. Alió, MD, PhD.
During my experience at Vissum, I was involved with a research team. I was able during 1 year to produce more than 10 articles, and I followed the corresponding number of projects. I learned how to write scientifically, and I was the co-editor of a book. I followed all the steps from the beginning, by contacting each author, through to the revision of chapters. I finished my residency in July 2014, and I won a position as a research fellow at University of Rome Sapienza.
To be a researcher is not an easy choice, but I think young ophthalmologists have much to gain by getting involved in research. Aside from satisfying scientific curiosity, a good researcher is also in a better position to provide the best possible care to his or her patients. I recommend that my young colleagues consider this career during their residence period.
- References:
- Abbouda A, et al. Semin Ophthalmol. 2014;doi:10.3109/08820538.2014.962155.
- Contact lenses. FDA website. http://www.fda.gov/medicaldevices/productsandmedicalprocedures/homehealthandconsumer/consumerproducts/contactlenses/default.htm. Updated Sept. 4, 2013.
- Important dos and don’ts of contact lens wear. British Contact Lens Association website. http://www.bcla.org.uk/public/important-dos-and-donts-of-contact-lens-wear.
- Wu Y, et al. Eye Contact Lens. 2010;doi:10.1097/ICL.0b013e3181cf8aff.
- For more information:
- Alessandro Abbouda, MD, is a research fellow at the University of Rome Sapienza. He can be reached at a.abbouda@gmail.com.
Disclosure: Abbouda reports no relevant financial disclosures.