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Review of 2015: Almost back to the future
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It has been more than 107 years since my beloved Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Despite Marty McFly’s observation of the Cubbies winning the World Series in 2015 on a “holobillboard” in the movie Back to the Future Part II, the Cubs unfortunately could not fulfill even that prediction with a loss to the New York Mets in game 4 of the National League Championship Series, which I attended.
Despite the disappointment of many Cubs fans across the globe, 2015 brought a lot of great news and technology, especially to the ophthalmic industry. Below I will disclose my top 10 favorite events for the year. Personally, I would like to thank the OSN team for keeping me in line with my monthly Premium Channel column this year.
Dr. Jackson’s top 10 2015 events
No. 10: The Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup Championship.
No. 9: DJMJ played for the eye industry during ASCRS San Diego at the Hard Rock rooftop.
No. 8: Omidria (1% phenylephrine and 0.3% ketorolac injection, Omeros) became available to prevent miosis during cataract surgery.
No. 7: The OPUS-3 lifitegrast (Shire) study for dry eye disease was completed.
No. 6: The Kamra (AcuFocus), the first corneal inlay for presbyopia in the U.S., received approval.
No. 5: Dan Goldberg published a computer-animated model of extralenticular mechanisms of action involved in presbyopia.
No. 4: Iris registration and astigmatism management became available with femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) with the Lensar (Lensar), along with Streamline with Cassini (i-Optics) and evaluation of posterior corneal astigmatic effect.
No. 3: Microburst phacoemulsification technology with high-pressure infusion fluidics (Stellaris, Bausch + Lomb) was used in conjunction with FLACS.
No. 2: The Chicago Cubs were actually relevant in the month of October.
No. 1: My spouse finally recovered from major surgery!
Despite the peaks and valleys we experience in our careers and personal lives each year, 2015 was one productive year overall. There are many new pharmaceuticals and surgical devices coming in 2016, so I expect an even better top 10 next year at this time. My sneak preview hope for 2016 will be further advancements in dry eye diagnostics and therapeutics, toric multifocals, expansion of toric monofocal platforms, expanded depth of focus multifocals, the light-adjustable IOL, gene and/or stem cell therapy for congenital retinal diseases, expansion of the MIGS array of IOP-lowering devices, expanded intraocular and extraocular pharmaceutical options to obviate patient expense with topical therapy perioperatively, less focus on meaningful use and other regulatory guidelines but more on patient outcomes, and continued dialogue and educational enticement from all my friends and colleagues in the eye care world. As this column is being published at the same time as the launch of Star Wars: Episode VII, all I can say to my colleagues is, “may the force be with you” in 2016.
- Reference:
- Goldberg DB. J Cataract Refract Surg. 2015;doi:10.1016/j.jcrs.2014.07.028.
- For more information:
- Mitchell A. Jackson, MD, can be reached at Jacksoneye, 300 N. Milwaukee Ave., Suite L, Lake Villa, IL 60046; email: mjlaserdoc@msn.com.
Disclosure: Jackson reports he is a consultant to Bausch + Lomb, Lensar, i-Optics, Omeros, Shire and Live Nation.