Comanagement News

By 2032, an estimated 38.5 million Americans will have cataract, and 45.6 million will be affected by 2050, according to results from the Prevent Blindness study “The Future of Vision.”

Siemens Healthineers and Hill-Rom announced a collaboration to provide physicians with a suite of point-of-care diagnostic instruments that will allow for comprehensive diabetes care at primary care facilities.

Much controversy has surrounded the subject of the use of YAG lasers to treat vitreous floaters.

The board of the American Academy of Ophthalmology announced in 2004 a decision to prohibit optometrists from attending its annual meeting. The policy still stands in 2018, still limits optometrists’ access to education and may be affecting comanagement relationships, some sources say.

A 24-year-old Caucasian female was referred from urgent care with a chief complaint of pain in and around the right eye that had begun 4 days prior. She had also noticed pain on eye movement. The patient’s pain had intensified the night before the examination, with feelings of a pressure sensation inside the eye. This prompted a visit to urgent care the following day, with the patient ranking the pressure sensation as a seven out of 10 on the pain scale. She denied any prior occurrences.

Cataract postop patients can present with a myriad of optical complaints after surgery. Dysphotopsias are one of the most frequently mentioned concern at the day 1 postoperative visit. In short, dysphotopsias are the things that patients see but we as doctors cannot see.

Thanks for your excellent article urging ODs to become more involved in managing these difficult diseases (“Comanagement a priority in patients with autoimmune diseases,” February 2018). I agree we should be more proactive in ordering lab testing.

The sheer numbers provide much of the obvious evidence of why optometrists need to be involved in the comanagement of cataract surgery. Currently, about 3 million cataract surgeries are performed each year. By 2050, however, more than 50 million people in the U.S. are projected to have cataracts, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Advances in scientific knowledge have allowed for the first update into the disease process of rosacea.

NEPTUNE, N.J. – Traditionally invasive glaucoma procedures such as trabeculectomies and tube shunts are migrating to more minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) such as the Cypass (Alcon) and Xen gel stent (Allergan), Vipul Lakhani, MD, said here at a New Jersey Academy of Optometry continuing education meeting. He discussed what optometrists should look for postoperatively.