The Lens Pod

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week's episode, we discuss: Calm mind, calm eye: mindfulness as an adjunct treatment in non-infectious uveitis See no evil, speak no evil? How reliable are AI-powered smart glasses in providing visually impaired assistance? Tarsorrhaphy may allow for accelerated epithelial healing of corneal grafts in penetrating keratoplast...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss: Ocular inflammation, (along with female sex and treatment interruptions) were significant risk factors for developing anti-adalimumab antibodies, which happened in approximately 1/5th of patients on treatment with Adalimumab. Thinning of the ganglion cell layer/inner plexiform layer and outer retinal l...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss: Myopic eyes with deformities on 3D-MRI had a higher risk of myopic complications over 15 years compared to nondeformed myopic eyes. Former smokers who switched to electronic cigarettes or heated tobacco had a higher risk of developing eye diseases compared to those who quit completely. In highly myopic...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss: Large language models perform well on ophthalmic knowledge-based assessments but are not ready for patient-facing care alone. FOXC1 duplications play an exciting new role in understanding the genetics of JOAG. Children with ROP requiring treatment may face an increased long-term risk of development of...

Too busy to read The Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week's episode... Patients with obstructive sleep apnea demonstrate decreased macular vessel and perfusion density on OCT-A. FOXC1 duplication is shown to be a high-penetrance genetic variation associated with juvenile open-angle glaucoma. In metropolitan areas, children with retinoblastoma were less likely to receive enucle...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode, we discuss: Acoltremon, a selective TRPM8 (cold-sensing receptor) agonist, increased natural tear production in patients with moderate-to-severe dry eye disease in two phase 3 trials (COMET-2 and COMET-3). Handheld OCT appears to be less stressful than traditional binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy for infants und...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode, we discuss: Ocular point-of-care ultrasound performed by emergency department physicians does not significantly reduce the number of ophthalmology consults for eye-related chief complaints. Routine glaucoma follow-up appointments may be delayed up to 60 days among patients with mild, stable disease. Those with mo...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss… High-dose Aflibercept holds strong at 2 years for central diabetic macular edema with significantly fewer injections. Retinal disease burden in the United States is vast and unevenly distributed. Retinal imaging may serve as a noninvasive window into microvascular kidney disease. Keratoconus may be und...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week's episode we discuss: A new TriNetX study shows NSAID use is associated with lower risk of exudative and non-exudative AMD.  A large retrospective cohort study shows anti-VEGF injections within 6 weeks of a stroke or MI has no significant risk of cardiovascular outcomes compared with holding anti-VEGF injections.  In a...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss: Ophthalmic herpes showed no overall malignancy risk, though increased risk emerged in immunologically vulnerable patients. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor therapy with brolucizumab outperformed laser in visual outcomes for proliferative diabetic retinopathy at one year. Vitamin B may have a pro...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss… Major complications after strabismus surgery are rare but often vision-threatening, with higher risk in older patients and complex procedures. Protective eyewear remains underused among professional and amateur pickleball players despite rising eye injury risk. Modern diabetes therapies, SGLT2 inhibito...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss... Trauma-related enucleation and evisceration were associated with higher rates of post-operative depression and anxiety A personalized glaucoma coaching program significantly improved medication adherence and reduced related distress compared with standard written education. Modified chitosan medical...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode, we discuss: In high-risk individuals, an unhealthy lifestyle, including smoking, significantly increases progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration. In older Asian adults, undiagnosed age-related eye diseases were common and associated with worse vision, quality of life, and higher healthcare costs....

In this episode, Dr. Mohammad Soleimani, MD, FICO, joins us to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the diagnosis and management of infectious keratitis, a leading cause of preventable corneal blindness worldwide. We discuss challenges in differentiating bacterial from fungal infections, real-world AI performance, smartphone-based diagnostics for underserved regions, and persistent...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss: Glaucoma patients who sleep with 2 pillows at night may have increased nocturnal IOP, worse IOP fluctuations, and lower ocular perfusion pressure. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, commonly used for weight loss and type 2 diabetes treatment, may be...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss… OCT thinning predicts glaucoma progression, with the circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer more informative in early disease and macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer becoming more useful in later stages. Some red-light therapy devices for myopia may exceed safety limits within standard treat...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss… Associations have been noted between primary open angle/normal tension glaucoma and dementia but do not seem to be correlated with the APOE genotype, the strongest known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s.  Retinal imaging may be an important player in the future diagnosis of bronchopulmonary dysplasi...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss… When the American Joint Committee on Cancer’s classification for uveal melanoma is challenged, a new staging system is proposed that incorporates tumor volume, clinical risk factors, and genetic alterations. GLP-1 receptor agonists are linked to a >90% reduced risk over 10 years of developing nonexu...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss: Circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer predicts visual field loss early in glaucoma, while macular ganglion cell inner plexiform layer becomes more informative with advancing disease. Although intraocular pressure has been proven as a continuous risk factor when treating glaucoma, the historic intra...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss… Black, Asian, and Hispanic patients were more likely to have delays in initiation of treatment of nAMD. Patients taking GLP-1 receptor agonists had a 51.7% reduced risk of developing non-infectious uveitis. Implanting multifocal intraocular lenses in children showed improved visual acuity and stereopsi...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss… Impaired fasting glucose and diabetes are linked to significantly increased risk of third, fourth, and sixth cranial-nerve palsies. Experts created standardized grading scales to improve detection and management of ocular toxicities from emerging cancer therapies. ChatGPT o1 Pro performed comparably to...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss... Antiviral therapy can significantly reduce the high recurrence rates of cytomegalovirus-associated anterior uveitis Rates of undiagnosed age-related eye diseases are relatively high among the elderly population in Singapore and associated with poorer outcomes A new study shows that antidepressants ar...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss... Nearly half of childhood glaucoma surgeries in a new IRIS analysis failed, with younger age, higher IOP, poorer visual acuity, active uveitis, and heavier medication use as predictors for failure. Diabetes does not impair endothelial outcomes at one year, supporting greater inclusion of transplant do...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss: The risk of postoperative endophthalmitis after cataract surgery is significantly greater in eyes with uveitis, corticosteroid use, and immunosuppressant use. Pediatric patients who undergo lensectomy for traumatic cataracts have low likelihood of achieving age-normal visual acuity, with nearly 50% req...

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss: The incidence of sports-related orbital fractures in the U.S. has remained stable over the past decade, with baseball, cycling, and softball as leading causes. GLP-1 receptor agonist use in non-diabetic patients who are overweight or obese reduces risk of developing dry AMD. Changes in cup-to-disc rati...