ABSTRACT
Purpose@#We describe the clinical aspects of allergy to a brinzolamide 1.0%/brimonidine 0.2% fixed combination (BBFC) in Korean patients with glaucoma. @*Methods@#The medical records of 117 glaucoma patients treated with BBFC were retrospectively analyzed in terms of sex, age, glaucoma type, follow-up period after prescription of eyedrops, number of eyedrop preparations used, allergy onset, and clinical characteristics. @*Results@#The incidence of ocular allergy during BBFC use was 12.8%. Allergy developed after an average of 8.58 months (range, 0.93-25.80 months); half of all allergies were evident within the first 5 months. The most common type of allergy was follicular conjunctivitis (53.4%), followed by papillary conjunctivitis and blepharoconjunctivitis. Systemic side-effects and eye discomfort (0.09%) were largely confined to non-allergic patients. @*Conclusions@#An understanding of the clinical pattern of BBFC allergy in Korean glaucoma patients could facilitate treatment compliance and patients’ education.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#To report the successful rehabilitation of a patient with anomalous head posture by using a virtual reality low vision aid (VRLVA).Case summary: A 75-year-old male diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration 15 years prior presented with an anomalous head posture for eccentric viewing. He had central scotoma within the central 10 degrees, and the preferred retinal locus (PRL) was localized to the inferonasal retina. The patient underwent a training session on the use of the VRLVA, which has a remapping function to remap distorted images, and those falling on the scotoma, to another location on the screen. After explaining the purpose of the VRLVA, the patient was given the device to use at home for two weeks. At two weeks after training, the patient could look straight ahead when using the VRLVA, without anomalous head posture. In addition, reading performance, including speed and accuracy, improved; moreover, he experienced no device-related adverse events. @*Conclusions@#By using the VRLVA, low-vision patients with anomalous head posture can shift images falling on the central scotoma to the PRL, thereby minimizing their anomalous head posture and improving reading performance. We expect that future technological advances, such as a wearable design and the use of lightweight material, will further improve the performance and acceptability of the VRLVA.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#To report two cases of atypical conjunctival lesions that differ from the well-known typical papillary or follicular conjunctivitis after the use of brimonidine.Case summary: In the first case, a 46-year-old female patient diagnosed with binocular normal tension glaucoma visited our hospital. After topical application of 1% brinzolamide/0.2% brimonidine fixed-combination eye drops for 7 months, a number of yellow follicles confined to the left upper bulbar conjunctiva with mild conjunctival injection and conjunctival edema were observed under slit lamp microscopy examination. After stopping brimonidine for 2 weeks, conjunctival injection and follicles decreased and, 1 month later, bulbar conjunctival follicles had disappeared completely. Since changing the eye drops to a brinzolamide/timolol fixed combination, there was no recurrence of the condition. In the second case, a 70-year-old female patient who had been diagnosed with binocular normal tension glaucoma a year ago had been using 0.15% brimonidine. On slit lamp examination, bilateral eyelid edema and overall diffuse conjunctival tissue hypertrophy and multiple follicles appeared on the upper and lower palpebral conjunctiva, the bulbar conjunctiva, the conjunctival fornix, and the lacrimal caruncle. Bilateral conjunctival biopsy was performed to differentiate conjunctival lymphoma, and granulomatous inflammation was confirmed by biopsy. After stopping 0.15% brimonidine treatment and changing to latanoprost, conjunctival lesions improved and there was no recurrence. @*Conclusions@#If atypical conjunctival lesions are observed in patients using topical brimonidine, side effects related to brimonidine should be considered. Our results indicated marked improvement within 2 weeks of stopping brimonidine treatment.
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Purpose@#We describe a patient with Stevens-Johnson syndrome who exhibited recurrent anterior corneal granulomas after corneal perforation (despite multiple amniotic membrane [AM] transplantations); the patient was successfully treated by lamellar grafting of an acellular, preserved human cornea.Case summary: Corneal granulomas developed four times in a 46-year-old man who had been diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson syndrome 17 years priorly and who had undergone multiple AM transplantations after corneal perforation. A corneal granulomatous mass recurred 2 months prior to presentation in our clinic; it rapidly increased in size. With the patient under general anesthesia, the corneal mass was excised and a 4.0-mm-diameter, acellular preserved human cornea (Halo; Eversight Inc., Palo Alto, CA, USA) was grafted. A similarly sized AM was placed over the grafted cornea. Although the engrafted cornea exhibited stromal infiltration 1 month after surgery, the keratitis improved following brief antibiotic treatment. At 8 months postoperatively, the wound was stable; no granuloma recurrence, no graft melting, and no suspected microbial keratitis were observed in the region of the graft. @*Conclusions@#In patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome and recurrent anterior granulomas (despite multiple AM transplantations), a lamellar graft of acellular, preserved human cornea may be a good therapeutic choice.
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Purpose@#We analyzed changes in mini-scleral lens parameters after repetitive ethylene oxide (EO) sterilization. @*Methods@#We measured the base curve radius (BCR), the optical power, the central lens thickness (CLT), and the overall lens diameter (OLD) of 67 basic, oblate-type mini-scleral lenses (Onefit A; BIUMTEC, Seoul, Korea) before and after three repeats of EO sterilization at 2-week intervals. The sterilization process (15 hours in duration) included a core step featuring exposure to gaseous EO for 180 minutes at 1.5 bar and 56°C. @*Results@#The BCR changes in the basic type of mini-scleral lens after EO sterilization were -0.011 ± 0.004 mm, -0.024 ± 0.005 mm, and -0.021 ± 0.005 mm for the first, second, and third sterilizations, respectively; all changes were significant. None of optical power, CLT, or OLD were affected by EO sterilization. We found no significant correlation between any baseline value and the change thereof after sterilization. @*Conclusions@#Repeated EO sterilization of mini-scleral lenses did not change the optical power, CLT, or OLD, but significantly reduced the BCR. EO should not be used to sterilize mini-scleral lenses.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#To report two cases of atypical conjunctival lesions that differ from the well-known typical papillary or follicular conjunctivitis after the use of brimonidine.Case summary: In the first case, a 46-year-old female patient diagnosed with binocular normal tension glaucoma visited our hospital. After topical application of 1% brinzolamide/0.2% brimonidine fixed-combination eye drops for 7 months, a number of yellow follicles confined to the left upper bulbar conjunctiva with mild conjunctival injection and conjunctival edema were observed under slit lamp microscopy examination. After stopping brimonidine for 2 weeks, conjunctival injection and follicles decreased and, 1 month later, bulbar conjunctival follicles had disappeared completely. Since changing the eye drops to a brinzolamide/timolol fixed combination, there was no recurrence of the condition. In the second case, a 70-year-old female patient who had been diagnosed with binocular normal tension glaucoma a year ago had been using 0.15% brimonidine. On slit lamp examination, bilateral eyelid edema and overall diffuse conjunctival tissue hypertrophy and multiple follicles appeared on the upper and lower palpebral conjunctiva, the bulbar conjunctiva, the conjunctival fornix, and the lacrimal caruncle. Bilateral conjunctival biopsy was performed to differentiate conjunctival lymphoma, and granulomatous inflammation was confirmed by biopsy. After stopping 0.15% brimonidine treatment and changing to latanoprost, conjunctival lesions improved and there was no recurrence. @*Conclusions@#If atypical conjunctival lesions are observed in patients using topical brimonidine, side effects related to brimonidine should be considered. Our results indicated marked improvement within 2 weeks of stopping brimonidine treatment.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#We describe a patient with Stevens-Johnson syndrome who exhibited recurrent anterior corneal granulomas after corneal perforation (despite multiple amniotic membrane [AM] transplantations); the patient was successfully treated by lamellar grafting of an acellular, preserved human cornea.Case summary: Corneal granulomas developed four times in a 46-year-old man who had been diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson syndrome 17 years priorly and who had undergone multiple AM transplantations after corneal perforation. A corneal granulomatous mass recurred 2 months prior to presentation in our clinic; it rapidly increased in size. With the patient under general anesthesia, the corneal mass was excised and a 4.0-mm-diameter, acellular preserved human cornea (Halo; Eversight Inc., Palo Alto, CA, USA) was grafted. A similarly sized AM was placed over the grafted cornea. Although the engrafted cornea exhibited stromal infiltration 1 month after surgery, the keratitis improved following brief antibiotic treatment. At 8 months postoperatively, the wound was stable; no granuloma recurrence, no graft melting, and no suspected microbial keratitis were observed in the region of the graft. @*Conclusions@#In patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome and recurrent anterior granulomas (despite multiple AM transplantations), a lamellar graft of acellular, preserved human cornea may be a good therapeutic choice.
ABSTRACT
Purpose@#We analyzed changes in mini-scleral lens parameters after repetitive ethylene oxide (EO) sterilization. @*Methods@#We measured the base curve radius (BCR), the optical power, the central lens thickness (CLT), and the overall lens diameter (OLD) of 67 basic, oblate-type mini-scleral lenses (Onefit A; BIUMTEC, Seoul, Korea) before and after three repeats of EO sterilization at 2-week intervals. The sterilization process (15 hours in duration) included a core step featuring exposure to gaseous EO for 180 minutes at 1.5 bar and 56°C. @*Results@#The BCR changes in the basic type of mini-scleral lens after EO sterilization were -0.011 ± 0.004 mm, -0.024 ± 0.005 mm, and -0.021 ± 0.005 mm for the first, second, and third sterilizations, respectively; all changes were significant. None of optical power, CLT, or OLD were affected by EO sterilization. We found no significant correlation between any baseline value and the change thereof after sterilization. @*Conclusions@#Repeated EO sterilization of mini-scleral lenses did not change the optical power, CLT, or OLD, but significantly reduced the BCR. EO should not be used to sterilize mini-scleral lenses.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: We used a questionnaire to explore perceptions and clinical practice patterns of Korean pediatric ophthalmologists in terms of amblyopia.METHODS: From September to November 2018, we conducted a web-based questionnaire survey of 99 specialists of the Korean Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus who operated ophthalmology clinics in Korea. We received 56 responses (56.57%) and retrospectively analyzed the data.RESULTS: The average specialist age was 44.0 ± 9.7 years. The mean age of treated amblyopia patients was 3 to 5 years (69.6%); the most common amblyopia was refractive anisometropic amblyopia (75.0%). On average, treatment commenced at 4 years of age (53.6%); child and parent co-operation most significantly influenced treatment success (46.4%). The preferred test was cycloplegic refraction (96.4%) and the preferred treatment occlusion therapy (100%) with glasses correction (98.2%). Occlusion therapy was most commonly performed for 2 hours/day (69.6%); the minimum age for eyeglasses prescription was 2.10 ± 1.18 years. Only three respondents (5.36%) prescribed contact lenses and only one (1.79%) performed refractive surgery.CONCLUSIONS: In Korea, amblyopia treatment is based on occlusion therapy and glasses correction. However, the time of treatment commencement, the duration of occlusion therapy, and the glasses used for correction varied. It is necessary to develop guidelines for amblyopia treatment; these should reflect current medical conditions.