Background Inflammatory adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination are being reported amidst the growing concerns regarding vaccine’s immunogenicity and safety, especially in patients with pre-existing inflammatory conditions. Methods Multinational case series of patients diagnosed with an ocular inflammatory event within 14 days following COVID-19 vaccination collected from 40 centres over a 3 month period in 2021. Results Seventy patients presented with ocular inflammatory events within 14 days following COVID-19 vaccination. The mean age was 51 years (range, 19–84 years). The most common events were anterior uveitis (n = 41, 58.6%), followed by posterior uveitis (n = 9, 12.9%) and scleritis (n = 7, 10.0%). The mean time to event was 5 days and 6 days (range, 1–14 days) after the first and second dose of vaccine, respectively. Among all patients, 36 (54.1%) had a previous history of ocular inflammatory event. Most patients (n = 48, 68.6%) were managed with topical corticosteroids. Final vision was not affected in 65 (92.9%), whereas 2 (2.9%) and 3 (4.3%) had reduction in visual acuity reduced by ≤3 lines and > 3 lines, respectively. Reported complications included nummular corneal lesions (n = 1, 1.4%), cystoid macular oedema (n = 2, 2.9%) and macular scarring (n = 2, 2.9%). Conclusion Ocular inflammatory events may occur after COVID-19 vaccination. The findings are based on a temporal association that does not prove causality. Even in the possibility of a causal association, most of the events were mild and had a good visual outcome.

No abstract

No abstract

Objective This study aimed to determine if there is any association between the subject of pre-residency research publications (PRPs) and the academic settings in which they are produced with post-residency academic productivity among graduates from an academic ophthalmology residency program. Design, Setting, Participants This is a cross-sectional study involving graduates of the Wilmer Eye Institute Residency Training Program from 1990 to 1999. An electronic survey was conducted and each participant was asked to submit his/her curriculum vitae, including a list of peer-reviewed publications. Publications were validated and then classified according to the academic setting in which the research was performed, and whether or not the research was related to ophthalmology. Outcome Measures The primary outcome measure was the post-residency academic productivity score. The secondary outcome measures were the relationships of academic productivity with the settings in which PRPs were performed and the topics of the PRPs. Results Fifty-one individuals were included. Regression analysis showed a positive association between the number of PRPs generated during undergraduate studies and medical school and the academic productivity score (ratio ¼ 1.17, p ¼ 0.006) but not during an advanced degree program, research fellowship, or a year off to perform research. Regardless of the setting in which it was performed, the subject of a PRP was not associated with academic productivity. Conclusion It may be appropriate for ophthalmology residency programs whose mission is to train future academicians to place increased weight on applicants who have published articles related to projects performed during undergraduate years or in medical school and less weight on publications related to research performed during a more structured research period, such as an advanced degree program, regardless of the subject(s) of the publication(s).

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a hinged pupil expansion device (PED) in eyes with small pupils undergoing phacoemulsification. Methods: In this prospective, multicenter, interventional case series of 57 eyes with suboptimal pharmacologic pupil dilation (<5 mm diameter), a hinged PED (I-Ring, Beaver-Visitec International, Waltham, MA) was applied to facilitate surgical visualization during cataract surgery. The pupil diameters (PD) were measured at different stages of the procedure and at the 1-month follow-up visit. Rate of successful intraoperative PED deployment, pupil size, and shape were assessed. Results: The mean patient age was 70.5 ± 12.1 years. The I-Ring PED was successfully applied in all eyes. The mean PD at various stages were 4.1 ± 1.1 mm (dilation with eye drops only preoperatively), 4.3 ± 1.1 mm (dilation after intracameral epinephrine and ophthalmic viscoelastic device), 6.80 ± 0.00 mm (with PED applied), and 5.7 ± 1.1 mm (end of surgery). A statistically significant difference ( P < 0.001) was observed between the mean PD with intracameral medications and with PED application. Postoperative circular pupil was observed in 54 of 57 eyes (94.7%) and the mean eccentricity index ( n = 57 eyes) was 0.11 ± 0.22. No significant adverse events were observed. Conclusion: The I-Ring PED safely and effectively provided and maintained adequate pupil expansion and surgical visualization in eyes with small pupils undergoing cataract surgery. Postoperatively 95% of eyes attained circular pupils. This hinged PED is an additional instrumentation option for the safe and effective expansion of inadequately sized pupils during cataract surgery.

Ocular neuromyotonia is an unusual condition in which sustained, undesired contraction of one or more extraocular muscles occurs after normal muscle activation. Although most commonly reported after paraseller cranial irradiation for tumor, chronic nonaneurysmal vascular compression of the third nerve can produce partial ocular motor nerve paresis and ocular neuromyotonia. A 75-year-old woman presented with intermittent left-gaze-evoked binocular diplopia. She had an incomplete right third nerve palsy but became symptomatically diplopic and esotropic upon sustained left gaze. High-resolution brain magnetic resonance imaging showed displacement of the right posterior communicating artery and contact with the right third nerve. Gaze-evoked diplopia resolved with carbamazepine, but a partial third nerve paresis remained.

An otherwise healthy, 11-year-old boy presented with a long-standing history of right eye esotropia associated with a right head turn. Following a mild blunt facial trauma, he was brought to an ophthalmologist for binocular horizontal diplopia. Cranial CT scan revealed a large, enhancing lesion in the right cavernous sinus. Neuro-ophthalmological evaluation showed abduction deficit of the right eye, right corneal anaesthesia, right upper lid ptosis and a smaller right pupil suggesting involvement of the intracavernous segments of the right abducens nerve, ophthalmic nerve and oculosympathetic fibres. Cerebral angiography confirmed a large aneurysm involving the petrous, lacerum and cavernous segments of the right internal carotid artery. The child underwent successful clipping of the aneurysm by the neurosurgery service.

A 57-year-old otherwise healthy woman presented with painless binocular vision loss 1 week after direct application of radiofrequency energy to her orbits. She had no light perception bilaterally. Pupils were dilated and not reactive to light. Fundoscopic exam initially showed optic disc swelling in the right eye and a normal-appearing disc in the left eye. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and orbits showed gadolinium enhancement of both intraorbital optic nerves. She underwent a course of high-dose steroid treatment without recovery of vision. Optic discs were pale 11 weeks after injury. With exclusion of other possible causes, this represents a unique case of irreversible binocular optic nerve damage and blindness secondary to radiofrequency exposure.