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Primary Care Optometry News looks back on 10 years, celebrates
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![Michael D. DePaolis, OD, FAAO [photo]](/~/media/shared-images/michael-d-depaolis-od-faao-photo.jpg)
Though it’s a largely overstated cliché, time really does seem to fly. It’s hard to imagine that we’re embarking upon a new year and that it’s 2005 already. It’s equally difficult to imagine that so much has changed in the past decade.
Consider, for instance, just what 1995 was like. It was the year in which The Lion King and Forrest Gump dominated the box office. The San Francisco 49ers won the Super Bowl. Gas cost about $1.19 a gallon. Bill Clinton was president while the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. And all of America grieved with the families of those who lost their lives in the Oklahoma City terrorist attack. Yes, quite a bit has happened since then.
A look at optometry in 1995
Nineteen ninety-five was a considerably different time for eye care providers as well. We had no 30-day continuous wear silicone hydrogel lenses to offer our patients. We managed glaucoma without the benefit of prostaglandin analogs, optic nerve imaging technologies or the OHTS results to guide us. A little-known refractive surgery procedure called PRK had just received approval and LASIK wasn’t even a “blip” on anyone’s radar screen. Antihistamine/mast-cell anti-allergy agents and fluoroquinolone antibiotics were relatively unknown.
While it might seem almost impossible to practice today without these advances, somehow or another we did pretty well in 1995. It was simply a matter of making the most of what we had available. We studied existing technologies, validated their efficacy in clinical practice and shared this information in a collegial manner. To a large extent it is the latter, the reporting and dissemination of information, that is the primary function — and responsibility — of all eye care publications.
Since our inception, Primary Care Optometry News has strived to provide factual and balanced editorial coverage of all topics relevant to the eye care community. It is a privilege that we do not take for granted. As we enter our 10th year of publication we remain committed to this mission and to better serving the interests of our readers. And to do such requires a certain amount of reflection — reflection that is best accomplished through a retrospective of the decade.
Special editorial features
Throughout 2005, each issue of Primary Care Optometry News will revisit an article from the “early years,” re-interviewing the contributors, talking with other industry experts and assessing the impact that each subject made on our profession. We hope you’ll find this initiative to be interesting, informative and — perhaps — a bit entertaining.
Our yearlong editorial agenda also includes a Primary Care Optometry News June supplement chronicling optometry’s most defining trends from the past decade. We are especially grateful for the expertise of our Editorial Board members, many of who helped identify these seminal trends. The trends run the gamut from the emergence of new technologies to legislative decisions that have forever changed the landscape of optometry.
We certainly hope you’ll enjoy this editorial initiative and that it will provide a little better sense of what the future holds. Thanks for your support and readership over the past decade. We will certainly do our best to justify your confidence in the years to come.