Seen & Heard

Glaucoma Today

AGS Annual Meeting Highlights Catch video updates from the 2024 AGS Annual Meeting, featuring April Maa, MD (left), on implementing telehealth; Sahar Bedrood, MD, PhD (middle), on optimizing refractive outcomes in phaco-MIGS patients; and Cara Capitena-Young, MD (right), on managing an accidentally cut tube during insertion. View these videos and more AGS coverage on Eyetube. Helping Patients With Low Vision Administer Eye Drops On Clinical Minute, host Neda Shamie, MD, invites Robert M. Kinast, MD, to discuss a repeated-measures case series that evaluated the administration of eye drops by patients with low vision and tested whether a nose-pivoted drop delivery device could improve their success. Ahmed Glaucoma Valve to Mitigate Post-Injection IOP Elevation On Glaucoma Case Files, Joseph F. Panarelli, MD; Manjool Shah, MD; and Arsham Sheybani, MD, recap a case of a patient with pseudoexfoliative glaucoma who was receiving anti-VEGF injections to treat wet age-related macular degeneration. Dr. Panarelli describes his rationale for Ahmed Glaucoma Valve (New World Medical) implantation. He notes that anti-VEGF injections could have caused IOP elevations and acute damage to the optic nerve. The surgeons also discuss the pros and cons of alternative surgical interventions.

Superbug From Recent Eye Drop Outbreak Finds New Host

The drug-resistant strain of bacteria has turned up in an unexpected place.

Modern Optometry

HOT TOPIC Superbug From Eye Drop Outbreak Found in Dogs Remember that superbug found in various brands of eye drops just a few months ago? Well, it’s reared its ugly head in our canine friends. Recently, two dogs treated at a New Jersey veterinary hospital tested positive for the rare, drug-resistant strain of bacteria, carbapenemase-producing carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which was found in swabs of the dogs’ lungs and ears. The two dogs were from different owners and did not appear to be connected. This strain has been linked to the fatal outbreak caused by the contaminated eye drops used in humans. The bacteria from the dogs was found to be “highly genetically related” to the germs behind the outbreak that sickened 81 human patients in 18 states. This outbreak resulted in 14 patients losing their vision and four deaths. As a reminder, carbapenemase-producing germs are of particular concern to health officials because they can break down carbapenem antibiotics (eg, imipenem, meropenem, ertapenem, biapenem), a class of drugs typically reserved for infections that are resistant to other treatments. These germs can quickly spread their resistant genes to different pathogens. The CDC’s Emma Price warned that this resistance could spread, now that artificial tears have introduced the bacteria into the United States.

Technology in Collaborative Care: Friend or Foe?

Leveraging advances in optometry will help deliver more optimal, efficient patient care.

Selina R. McGee, OD, FAAO

Modern Optometry

Prior to 1900, human knowledge was said to double every century.1 After World War II, human knowledge doubled every 25 years.2 Today, it is estimated that human knowledge doubles every 12 hours.3 If you feel like you can’t keep up—that there just aren’t enough hours in the day—you’re not alone, you can’t. No one can. The way we practice, learn, educate, and adapt to change must continue to evolve. THE EVOLUTION OF EYE CARE The population of patients in need of our medical expertise in eye care is growing, both in the clinic as well as in the surgical suite. Optometry performs about 88 million comprehensive eye exams per year,4 and that number is projected to increase by about 13 million by 2025. More than 4 million cataract surgeries are performed in the United States each year. By 2030, the estimated number of cataract surgeries is expected to reach 6 million,5 almost doubling surgical demand and requiring increased efficiency. Add to this the fact that an increasing number of patients will need intravitreal injections due to age-related macular degeneration or diabetes. Glaucoma is also on the rise with an aging population. Optometry has an opportunity, not to mention an obligation, to practice to our fullest scope and absorb the increase in patient demand to give patients access to quality care in a more timely manner.