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Ophthalmic Pearls for on the field Corneal ulcers with a perforation and a positive Seidel test often represent an ocular emergency if the eye is to be saved. In developing countries, corneal tissue for a therapeutic keratoplasty is often not available. Cyanoacrylate (Krazy Glue, Gorila Super Read more:

In the developing world, mitomycin can be frozen and stored for up to one year. Mitomycin comes as a 5 mg powder. Add 20 ml sterile water and this will make a 0.25 mg/ ml concentration. You can then put 1 ml in each of 20 tuberculin syringes and freeze for later Read more:

If you are ever operating and find yourself without a working cautery, there are some options. You can simply use a muscle hook and heat it up with a candle. The candle gives off carbon which is a little messy on the muscle hook so you can purchase a heat [ flame ] canister which cooks use to Read more:

Perhaps the most dreaded post op cataract complication is endophthalmitis, which fortunately is rare. Here are some tips for endophthalmitis avoidance in developing countriesIt's rarity [ approximately 1:1000 ] make it difficult to evaluate / research what might be of benefit to reduce the Read more:

I was taught and have find that SIMCE is a viscoelastic operation. I use a lot of viscoelastic material to protect the endothelium. The incidence of Fuch's / guttata / bullous keratopathy is higher in Hispanics / Native Americans than black folks. Using the Kansas or Alfonso instruments [ Read more:

Although rare, patients will present with mature cataracts, white or brunescent, in the United States. Mature cataracts, where the ophthalmic surgeon can not visualize the posterior pole, is a common initial presentation in the developing world. The incidence of operative complications appears Read more:

Don’t believe everything you think.
Did you see the September 2016 National Geographic magazine? Cover story on -- The End of Blindness Winning The Fight To See? The article talked about blindness in the developed world as well as the developing world. Lots of reasons for the reduction. In the Read more:

Check out this one page quick reference for how to evaluate mature cataract. Please click on the image below to view in higher resolution. Read more:

I wanted to write everyone and go over diagnosis / management / treatment of glaucoma. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in Belize, USA, the industrialized world and the emerging world. As we all know, once vision is lost with glaucoma ( optic atrophy ) there is no drops, surgery, Read more:

In regards to our talking about optical coherence tomography ( OCT ) last week, I would encourage you to read the entire OCT manual which is available online. I know it can be rather daunting but if you would read 3 pages each day and try to make sense of what the book is describing then over Read more: