Wellness Essentials For Clinical Practice

Supported by an unrestricted grant from Bausch + Lomb.

This supplement, created in partnership with the Ocular Wellness and Nutrition Society (OWNS), gives practicing optometrists a much-needed overview of how nutrition, dietary supplementation and systemic health affect patients' eyes and bodies. Contributors are an esteemed group of ODs, MDs and PhDs who have researched these issues at length. Here, they share their insights on how optometry patients can benefit from greater attention to nutrition and systemic wellness initiatives. 

Narrow Focus, Wide Impact

Adding a specialty to your practice helps you do more for patients in need while standing out in the community. The fastest growing one in optometry is dry eye, but ODs are also turning their attention to specialty contact lenses, vision therapy, low vision and myriad other niches. Here’s what these opportunities can do for you.

No More Fun and Games

Digital device use is in the crosshairs of new efforts to curb myopia and protect the retina.

Rethinking Endothelial Repair

Several novel methods have been proposed to reduce the remaining complications of tissue transplantation for endothelial dysfunction, including the use of cultured human endothelial cells (which is potentially applicable for all forms of endothelial dysfunction) and Descemet’s stripping without endothelial keratoplasty, which eliminates the need for any donor tissue or cells, but is only applicable in the treatment of Fuchs’ endothelial dystrophy. A potentially important innovation is the use of rho-kinase inhibitors, either topically or intracamerally, as an adjunct to Descemet’s stripping or injection of cultured cells.

This article briefly reviews our current understanding of the causes of endothelial dysfunction, and then delves into the status of these new and promising treatments.