Phacoemulsification, MIGS voted most important recent innovations in ophthalmology
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Phacoemulsification and MIGS rank among the most important innovations in ophthalmology over the past 40 years, according to an email poll of more than 100 readers conducted by Healio/Ocular Surgery News.
“There are major disruptive innovations in multiple subspecialties over the last generation, laser vision correction being only one example of that for refractive surgery. IOL formula innovations by the works of many clinician scientists, including Drs. Graham Barrett, Li Wang, Doug Koch and Sam Masket, have helped us optimize our outcomes with IOLs and have helped our patients achieve better uncorrected functional visual results,” OSN Associate Medical Editor Elizabeth Yeu, MD, said. “Refractive accuracy is the baseline for advanced-technology IOLs to even exist. Ultimately, we are fortunate for all the dynamic innovations that our field has experienced and continues to undergo.”
Healio/OSN readers selected the most important innovations in ophthalmology from the past 4 decades from a preselected list or wrote in their own answers. Phacoemulsification and LASIK received the most votes for the 1980s category, with 72% and 10% of the votes, respectively, while optical biometry and collagen cross-linking led the votes for the 1990s with 32% and 31% of the votes, respectively.
Intravitreal anti-VEGF injections took the top spot for the 2000s with 65% of the votes, with femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery and Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty tying for second with 14% of the votes each. MIGS and SMILE had the most votes for the 2010s, accounting for 60% and 16% of the votes, respectively. OCT received the most write-in votes.
“It’s truly difficult to pick the top few innovations when there have been so many over the past 4 decades,” OSN Associate Medical Editor John A. Hovanesian, MD, FACS, said. “However, cataract surgery is the most common procedure we perform, and it has been changed fundamentally by the availability of modern implants that only continue to improve.”
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