Virtual keratoconus monitoring clinic in a tertiary university hospital in the United Kingdom.

Purpose: To describe a new pathway for virtual keratoconus (KC) monitoring in the corneal department of a tertiary referral center in the UK during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A virtual outpatient clinic to monitor KC patients (KC PHOTO clinic) was created. All patients from the KC database in our department were included. At each hospital visit, patients' visual acuity and tomography (Pentacam; Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany) were collected by a health-care assistant and an ophthalmic technician, respectively. The results were virtually reviewed by a corneal optometrist to identify stability or progression of KC and discussed with a consultant if needed. Those with progression were contacted by telephone and listed for corneal crosslinking (CXL). Results: From July 2020 until May 2021, 802 patients were invited to attend the virtual KC outpatient clinic. Of them, 536 patients (66.8%) attended and 266 (33.2%) did not attend. After corneal tomography analysis, 351 (65.5%) were stable, 121 (22.6%) showed no definite evidence of progression, and 64 (11.9%) showed progression. Forty-one (64%) patients with progressive KC were listed for CXL and the remaining 23 patients deferred treatment after the pandemic. By converting a face-to-face clinic to a virtual clinic, we were able to increase our capacity by nearly 500 appointments per year. Conclusion: In pandemic times, hospitals have developed novel methods of delivering safe patient care. KC PHOTO is a safe, effective, and innovative method of monitoring KC patients and diagnosing progression. In addition, virtual clinics can increase the clinic capacity tremendously and reduce the need of face-to-face appointments, which is beneficial in pandemic conditions.

Five Cases of Corneal Graft Rejection After Recent COVID-19 Vaccinations and a Review of the Literature.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to report 5 cases of acute corneal graft rejection after COVID-19 vaccination and perform a review of the literature. METHODS: This was a case series and review of literature dated on the October 10, 2021. RESULTS: We describe 5 cases-2 patients with Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (for Fuchs endothelial dystrophy) who presented with acute corneal graft rejection after their first dose of mRNA (BNT162) vaccine. The other 3 patients who had penetrating keratoplasty performed more than 10 years ago for keratoconus presented with acute graft rejection-2 patients after their second dose of adenovirus vector (AZD1222) vaccine and 1 patient after first dose of mRNA (BNT162) vaccine. Three patients were not using any topical steroid treatment at the time of diagnosis of graft rejection. The mean duration between vaccination and onset of symptoms was 16.86 ± 6.96 days for the mRNA vaccine and 17 ± 11.89 days for the adenovirus vector vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: Corneal graft rejection has recently been reported after COVID-19 vaccination. Patients with keratoplasty need to be advised regarding the risk of corneal graft rejection and warning symptoms of rejection after COVID-19 vaccination. Seeking early referral to the emergency department and increasing topical steroids pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 vaccination may reduce the risk of rejection.

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on eye emergencies.

BACKGROUND: To characterise and compare ocular pathologies presenting to an emergency eye department (EED) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 against an equivalent period in 2019. METHODS: Electronic patient records of 852 patients in 2020 and 1818 patients in 2019, attending the EED at a tertiary eye centre (University Hospitals of Leicester, UK) were analysed. Data was extracted over a 31-day period during: (study period 1 (SP1)) COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in UK (24th March 2020-23rd April 2020) and (study period 2 (SP2)) the equivalent 2019 period (24th March 2019-23rd April 2019). RESULTS: A 53% reduction in EED attendance was noted during lockdown. The top three pathologies accounting for >30% of the caseload were trauma-related, keratitis and uveitis in SP1 in comparison to conjunctivitis, trauma-related and blepharitis in SP2. The overall number of retinal tears and retinal detachments (RD) were lower in SP1, the proportion of macula-off RD's (84.6%) was significantly (p = 0.0099) higher in SP1 (vs 42.9% in SP2). CONCLUSION: COVID-19 pandemic related lockdown has had a significant impact on the range of presenting conditions to the EED. Measures to stop spread of COVID-19 such as awareness of hand hygiene practices, social distancing measures and school closures could have an indirect role in reducing spread of infective conjunctivitis. The higher proportion of macula-off RD and lower number of retinal tears raises possibility of delayed presentation in these cases. Going forward, we anticipate additional pressures on EED and other subspecialty services due to complications and associated morbidity from delayed presentations.