Background: To explore the safety and effectiveness of Sclera patch grafts in the management of scleral defects.

Methods: This is a retrospective uncontrolled study. Medical records were retrospectively reviewed for 8 eyes of 8 patients with sclera patch grafts. Two patients had necrotizing scleritis, 2 patients had scleral melting/perforation secondary to thermal burns, 4 patients had scleral staphyloma secondary to surgery. Sclera was reconstructed with allogenic sclera patch grafts, 6 in 8 patients combined autologous conjunctival pedicle flap, 1 patient combined partial medial rectus translocation, 1 patient combined autologous pedicle tenon graft, simultaneously. Treatment outcomes were evaluated using structural integrity, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), scleritis remission, sclera rejection and melt, and ocular symptoms.

Results: Eight patients were reviewed. In all of these cases, satisfactory anatomic and functional outcomes were achieved. In the at least half a year follow-up, the BCVA of all the eight patients were no worse than that of preoperative. No eye pain, foreign body sensation and other discomforts showed in all the patients, except one woman, who showed sclera rejection and melt 1 month postoperative. In addition, one patient showed high intraocular pressure (28 mmHg), which can be controlled by a kind of medicine.

Conclusions: In this series, sclera patch grafts is an effective method for management scleral defects in the at least half a year following-up. Attention should be paid to the sclera patch rejection and melt post operatively.

Background: To report a new simplified surgical technique to manage small iris coloboma or traumatic iris defect.

Methods: A new surgical technique in which simplified pupilloplasty technique through only a clear corneal paracentesis to manage the iris coloboma or traumatic iris defect within the 120° range was designed. A retrospective revision of the medical records of patients treated with this technique between the years 2013 and 2016 was made. Six eyes of six patients with iris coloboma or traumatic iris defect treated with this new technique were included.

Results: All the operated eyes quickly recovered with central round pupil, negligible complications, inessential symptoms of photophobia and glare, and mild inflammation after a median follow-up time of 22 months (range: 6–34 months).

Conclusions: The simplified pupilloplasty technique presented here could be a good alternative for the management of small iris coloboma or traumatic iris defect.

Abstract: Corneal injuries and infections are the leading cause of blindness worldwide. Thus, understanding the mechanisms that control healing of the damaged cornea is critical for the development of new therapies to promptly restore vision. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a recently identified heterogeneous cell population that has been reported to orchestrate immunity and promote tissue repair in the lungs and skin after injury. However, whether ILCs can modulate the repair process in the cornea remains poorly understood. We identified a population of cornea-resident group 2 ILCs (ILC2s) in mice that express CD127, T1/ST2, CD90, and cKit. This cell population was relatively rare in corneas at a steady state but increased after corneal epithelial abrasion. Moreover, ILC2s were maintained and expanded locally at a steady state and after wounding. Depletion of this cell population caused a delay in corneal wound healing, whereas supplementation of ILC2s through adoptive transfer partially restored the healing process. Further investigation revealed that IL-25, IL-33, and thymic stromal lymphopoietin had critical roles in corneal ILC2 responses and that CCR2- corneal macrophages were an important producer of IL-33 in the cornea. Together, these results reveal the critical role of cornea-resident ILC2s in the restoration of corneal epithelial integrity after acute injury and suggest that ILC2 responses depend on local induction of IL-25, IL-33, and thymic stromal lymphopoietin.

Abstract: This article reviews the history of the femtosecond laser in ophthalmology and its subsequent introduction into the field of cataract surgery. It discusses the innovations that this technology has brought to the field. The article also describes the current system of teaching cataract surgery to ophthalmology residents in the United States and then examines how femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) can be a beneficial part of residency education.

Abstract: Corneal collagen-crosslinking (CXL) has been widely investigated in the adult population. There is still little available in the literature, however, on the effects of CXL in children. A review of the literature on CXL in the pediatric population is presented here, with a particular emphasis on the refractive effects. Although several studies demonstrate promising results, most studies have small sample sizes with relatively short follow-up periods. Further investigation on the effects of CXL in the pediatric population is required to better understand long-term effects.

Abstract: Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) is preferred over conventional penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) for the treatment of anterior corneal opacities or ectasias due to decreased risk of endothelial rejection. However, DALK remains surgically challenging, largely due to challenges associated with achieving consistent pneumo-dissection of posterior stroma from the underlying pre-Descemet’s or Descemet’s membrane (DM). Air must be injected at sufficient depth in the corneal stroma in order to achieve successful pneumo-dissection, but advancing a needle too deep into the cornea can lead to perforation of DM. We describe here a novel technique using a handheld slit lamp (Eidolon model 510L, Eidolon Optical LLC, Natick, MA, USA) to assist in creation of the big-bubble in DALK surgery. Use of a handheld slit beam intraoperatively is a safe, relatively inexpensive, and effective technique for increasing the success of big-bubble formation in DALK procedures.

Background: To compare objective electrophysiological contrast sensitivity function (CSF) in patients implanted with either multifocal intraocular lenses (MIOLs) or monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) by pattern reversal visual evoked potentials (prVEP) measurements.

Methods: Fourty-five cataract patients were randomly allocated to receive bilaterally: apodized diffractive-refractive Alcon Acrysof MIOL (A), full diffractive AMO Tecnis MIOL (B) or monofocal Alcon Acrysof IOL (C). Primary outcomes: 1-year differences in objective binocular CSF measured by prVEP with sinusoid grating stimuli of 6 decreasing contrast levels at 6 spatial frequencies. Secondary outcomes: psychophysical CSF measured with VCTS-6500, photopic uncorrected distance (UDVA), and mesopic and photopic uncorrected near and intermediate visual acuities (UNVA and UIVA respectively).

Results: Electrophysiological CSF curve had an inverted U-shaped morphology in all groups, with a biphasic pattern in Group B. Group A showed a lower CSF than group B at 4 and 8 cpd, and a lower value than group C at 8 cpd. Psychophysical CSF in group A exhibited a lower value at 12 cpd than group B. Mean photopic and mesopic UNVA and UIVA were worse in monofocal group compared to the multifocal groups. Mesopic UNVA and UIVA were better in group B.

Conclusions: Electrophysiological CSF behaves differently depending on the types of multifocal or monofocal IOLs. This may be related to the visual acuity under certain conditions or to IOL characteristics. This objective method might be a potential new tool to investigate on MIOL differences and on subjective device-related quality of vision.

Background: The goal of this study was to engineer an epithelialized and endothelialized pigmented choroidal substitute using the self-assembly approach of tissue engineering.

Methods: Cells from human choroids were isolated and cultured. Culture purity was assessed using immunostaining (CD31, HMB45, vimentin, keratins 8/18). To engineer the choroid, fibroblasts were cultured in the presence of serum and ascorbic acid to promote extracellular matrix (ECM) assembly. Endothelial cells, melanocytes or RPE cells were separately seeded on the stromal substitutes. Choroidal substitutes were further characterized by histology, mass spectrometry, immunostaining, and compared to native human choroids.

Results: The technique used to isolate choroidal cells yielded pure cultures of fibroblasts, melanocytes and vascular endothelial cells. The stromal substitutes engineered using the self-assembly approach were composed of collagen (types I, VI, XII and XIV), proteoglycans (decorin, lumican) and other ECM proteins. Protein expression was confirmed using immunostaining. Endothelial cells spontaneously assembled into capillary-like structures and vascular networks when cocultured with fibroblast-containing ECM sheets.

Conclusions: This study shows that the self-assembly approach of tissue engineering can be used to reconstruct a choroid using native cells. This model represents a unique tool to better understand the crosstalk between the different choroidal cell types and cell-ECM interactions.