Keratoconus is a progressive condition, usually presenting bilaterally, that affects the cornea. It leads to the thinning and bulging of the cornea which eventually causes the cornea to become cone shaped. It has a detrimental impact on the patient’s vision. The word keratoconus is derived from Greek and it means ‘cone-shaped’ cornea, with John Nottingham widely acknowledged as the first to define the condition in 1854. Studies that have investigated its epidemiology have estimated prevalence at between 1.5 and 25 per 100,000 people per year, however there is huge variance due to reasons such as geographical location, ethnicity and the diagnostic criteria used to identify keratoconus.

Since the launch of ChatGPT, the term “Artificial Intelligence” (AI) is now used colloquially.  Although its launch has catalysed its eminence, AI has slowly seeped its way into society over the past few decades. One of its first avatars was in the form of a navigation system that guided individuals from point A to B, saving travellers from the panic that ensued with reading an A-to-Z map. It later appeared in the form of Siri, whose witty comebacks offered amusement. It is now knocking on the doors of Medicine. With careful consideration of ethical dilemmas, its new incarnation in Medicine, specifically in the field of Ophthalmology, could be ground-breaking.

Neuropathy is a condition where nerve damage occurs due to a variety of reasons, leading to pain, weakness or altered sensation depending on the nerve injured. Optic neuropathy, or sometimes termed as optic atrophy (end stage of optic neuropathy), is the damage to the optic nerve anywhere along its path from the retina to the lateral geniculate.

Assessment of patients in ophthalmology typically involves taking a history and an examination.  History taking is important in the evaluation of patients as it provides information that can lead to the identification and treatment of the ophthalmic condition. For example, identifying systemic conditions that the patient may suffer from, medications that the patient uses and family history. Ophthalmologists typically ask the patient to describe their vision and the visual symptoms that they may suffer from. Whilst having a subjective understanding of a patient’s vision is important, testing it using objective means as well as assessing the eye is also necessary especially when monitoring in chronic conditions.

Ophthalmic Specialist Training (OST) is a seven-year surgical training programme. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) have created a curriculum that will lead to certificate of completed training (CCT). Year on year, the competition for OST training spots is increasing, with the latest figures from 2023 showing the ratio of applicants to places was approximately 10:1. Due to the increased competition, medical students may start feeling the need to decide about their specialty of choice during medical school in order to prepare an adequate portfolio and become competitive at the application process.

Senile or degenerative retinoschisis is an uncommon condition usually seen in persons over the age of forty years. Retinal breaks involving the outer or inner layers of a retinoschisis cavity may occur during the natural history of the condition. We describe a patient, who developed retinal breaks at the inner and outer layers of the schisis cavity following trauma, resulting in an unusual appearance of dialysis at edges of retinoschisis, requiring laser photocoagulation to prevent retinal detachment. No previous report describing such features has been reported in the literature.

Abdullah A. Cheema1, Connor Qiu2, Mohamed Ahmed Roshdy Khalil3 1Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant, Wales 2Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London 3Glangwili Hospital, Carmarthen, Wales Abstract Phototoxic retinopathy may occur…

An 11-year old boy presented to his optometrist with a 2-week history of intermittent flashing lights and blurred vision in his right eye. His medical background included amblyopia secondary to strabismus and a port-wine stain (naevus flammeus) above his right eye, both of which were corrected in early childhood with patching and laser treatment, respectively. Whilst at the optometrist, fundoscopy was performed which highlighted an ambiguous lesion in his right eye temporal to the optic disc that could not be characterised. He was referred urgently to the acute eye clinic, where a B-scan and fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) were performed. These investigations, along with slit lamp examination, were highly suggestive of a choroidal haemangioma. Given his history of a port-wine stain, he was referred to a specialist centre to explore the possibility of a diagnosis of Sturge-Weber syndrome. This article aims to shed light on this rare neurocutaneous disorder, and the ocular manifestations associated with these affected individuals.

Ophthalmology is a very niche and highly competitive specialty, with most recommending that you should start working on your portfolio as early as medical school if possible. However, not everyone knows what they want early on. I , for one, have many interests and did not fully know what I wanted until my FY2 year. It was vital that I rotated in different specialties to determine which was and was not for me. Ophthalmology portfolio-building demands time, commitment and dedication given the 10:1 competition ratio in 2023. Nonetheless, it is possible to get into even if you start late with a proper strategy in place. As what the other ophthalmology trainees I’ve met said, “someone will get that training number and why can’t it be you”. Here are my tips to starting your ophthalmology portfolio from scratch in FY2

A 38 year old white male patient presented to his community optometrist complaining of a four day history of painless blurred vision in the right eye that he described as “like looking through a glazed-bathroom window”. He had noted one similar episode two weeks previously that self-resolved within 2 hours. The patient was otherwise well and symptom free; he denied any pain or antecedent trauma and there was no history of recent surgery, travel or illness.