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An overview of the current drugs scene.

Ophthalmic drugs, both diagnostic and therapeutic, play a central role in new developments in optometry, particularly as practitioners extend their involvement in primary care. Optometrists now dilate more patients in routine practice, and this brings increasing concern about the risk of provoking acute closed angle glaucoma (CAG) attacks. It would seem that the risk of inducing acute CAG is far outweighed by the potential benefit of examining the eye through a dilated pupil. Driving difficulties, reported subjectively to be the result of glare, are frequently encountered by patients after dilation, and advice from the College of Optometrists is welcomed. The local anaesthetic proxymetacaine 0.5% is now marketed in the UK in preservative-free unit-dose applicators both alone and in combination with fluorescein, and is a more comfortable alternative to existing anaesthetics in unit-dose form. The second half of this paper includes a summary of the background to recent developments, as the UK profession takes its first steps towards the use of ocular therapeutic agents. Finally, some exciting new therapeutic preparations for use in the treatment of glaucoma, allergic eye disease, and dry eye conditions are discussed.

Anesthetics, Local↗

A methodologic issue for ophthalmic telemedicine: image quality and its effect on diagnostic accuracy and confidence.

BACKGROUND: The possibility of ophthalmic telemedicine raises questions as to the quality of images displayed on a video display terminal and its effect on a doctor's accuracy and confidence of diagnosis. This study compares diagnostic accuracy and confidence levels of subjects observing two formats of retinal imaging. METHODS: Test images included 90 conventional 4- x 6-inch retinal fundus photographs and the same set of photographs after they had been scanned, digitized, modified in brightness and contrast, and displayed on a video display terminal. Fifty-six of the images demonstrated one or more retinal anomalies; the remaining 34 were of normal fundi. Abnormalities were selected on the basis of estimates of prevalence in the general population. Twenty optometrists affiliated with the Southern California College of Optometry participated as subjects. One group of 10 was shown the photographs; the remaining ten subjects were shown the digitized images. Both groups were asked if the pictures were "healthy" or "unhealthy," how confident they were of their decision, and, if abnormal, what was the ocular disease. RESULT: T-tests were used to compare the results of the two groups. There was a statistically significant difference in the confidence of a specific diagnosis between the two groups (p = 0.018), as well as tendencies toward significance on other measures. CONCLUSION: Viewing digitally reconstructed photographic images of the retina on a video display caused doctors to lose confidence in making a diagnosis before they lost accuracy.

Adult↗

Accommodative responses to anisoaccommodative targets.

Young subjects (mean age 25.2 +/- 2.3 years) viewed with symmetric convergence two fusible targets situated at different distances (i.e. anisoaccommodative targets). The fused target was a Maltese cross which subtended 3 degrees at the eye: the right and left arms of the cross were seen by both eyes and each of the other arms was seen by only one eye. The vergences of the anisoaccommodative targets differed by either 3.00 or 0.50 D. Accommodation of each eye was measured by a Canon R1 auto-refractor. There was no evidence of systematic anisoaccommodation. When presented with anisoaccommodative targets, the accommodation of both eyes tended towards a level which was more appropriate to the farther target, i.e. that which required less accommodative effort. Implications of the findings for optometry are briefly discussed.

Accommodation, Ocular↗