ImportanceIn order to continue to clarify and maintain their role as eye physicians and surgeons, ophthalmologists may want to understand how they are viewed in the public eye and online.ObjectiveTo determine the representation of ophthalmologists (OMD) and optometrists (ODs) when a Google search for “eye doctor near me” is made from each county in the US.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis population-based cross-sectional study used publicly available data on OMDs and ODs and a Google search application programming interface (API) to search the phrase “eye doctor near me” from the geographic coordinates of each county centroid in the US (searched June 30, 2021). The top 10 sites and 3 Google map links, excluding physician ratings sites, were recorded. Data from the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were used to estimate the real number of OMDs and ODs per county.Main Outcome and MeasuresThe primary outcome was the mean proportion of OMDs listed by Google search as compared with the real proportion of OMDs for the US overall and for each state and county.ResultsA total of 2955 counties from 52 states and territories were included. The overall mean proportion of OMDs (OMDs with ODs) from the Google search of all counties was 4726.97 of 16 345.93 (28.91%), which was also less than the real proportion of ODs (15 778 of 41 975 [37.58%], a difference of 8.67%; 95% CI, 37.13-38.05%; P < .001). OMDs were underrepresented by Google in 35 of 52 states and territories (67.3%).Conclusions and RelevanceIn most counties in the US, Google search of the phrase “eye doctor near me” may underrepresent ophthalmologists. Ophthalmologists may want to pursue search engine optimization to try to achieve balanced representation online.
Purpose: To report a case series of endophthalmitis associated with intravitreal dexamethasone injections in a single practice and to discuss the clinical findings and visual outcomes of each case.Methods: All endophthalmitis cases following intravitreal dexamethasone injections performed from January 1, 2014 to October 20, 2020 were identified using Wills Eye/ MidAtlantic billing records. The diagnosis, clinical information, and microbiology were confirmed for each case. Data were analyzed using Excel (Microsoft Excel, Redmond, WA).Results: Four cases of endophthalmitis were identified from 3,925 intravitreal dexamethasone injections in a single practice and one case was referred from an outside institution, resulting in an incidence of 0.102% (1 in 981 injections). Mean age was 82.3 years (range, 63-88 years) with a mean of 11.3 intravitreal dexamethasone injections performed (range, 2-30 injections) before endophthalmitis. Cases presented with endophthalmitis a mean (SD) of 3.6 (1.64) days after causative injection. Three cases grew grampositive organisms. All patients responded to intravitreal antibiotics. Mean logarithm of the minimal angle of resolution visual acuity at causative injection, endophthalmitis presentation, 3 months, and last follow-up was 0.44 (20/55), 2.22 (20/3,319), 1.18 (20/303), and 1.46 (20/577), respectively.Conclusion: Endophthalmitis following intravitreal steroid injections may occur more frequently than other intravitreal injections. Dexamethasone-attributed endophthalmitis remains uncommon, and prompt intravitreal antibiotic treatment seems to be effective in this series.
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