The discipline of Surgical Ophthalmology, as a distinct branch within ophthalmology, aims to alleviate patients' complaints through a range of surgical procedures. Recently, remarkable strides have been made in the rapidly evolving domain of surgical ophthalmology. Our Research Topic, titled "Insights in surgical ophthalmology: 2023", explores the cutting-edge research and advancements in this field, emphasizing novel perspectives, contemporary obstacles, future prospects, and sophisticated surgical techniques that promise to contribute to the ongoing progress within Surgical Ophthalmology. Consequently, Guo et al. emphasized the most pivotal challenges and recent advancements across all ophthalmic subspecialties, inspiring, informing, guiding, and motivating ophthalmologists to enhance their medical practices to improve patient care.Ocular surface disorders (OSD), which are highly prevalent, can significantly impact vision quality and overall quality of life, potentially leading to blindness in extreme cases. However, some treatments may be ineffective due to a limited understanding of OSD mechanisms. Fortunately, surgical advancements such as simple limbal epithelial transplantation (SLET) (1), corneal endothelial transplantation (2), and corneal neurotization for neurotrophic keratitis (3), among others, have significantly improved the management of severe OSDs. Innovative imaging technologies are also emerging as potential tools to enhance OSD prognosis. During Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) surgery, intraoperative optical coherence tomography (iOCT) provides crucial feedback for graft positioning. A recent study by Muijzer et al. involved a prospective, non-inferiority, international multicenter randomized controlled trial with 65 pseudophakic eyes of patients with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy scheduled for routine DMEK. The study found that iOCT-guided DMEK surgery, which avoids prolonged overpressurization, was at least as effective as the traditional method. Although the overall rate of adverse postoperative events remained unchanged, the surgery and unfolding times decreased. They presented iOCT's beneficial role in 40% of cases and considered it indispensable in 9% of the traditional cases.