Mask-associated dry-eye in COVID-19 pandemic: A case report and review of the literature.

Mask-Associated Dry Eye (MADE) has been showing a rising trend during COVID 19 pandemic. This phenomenon seems inevitable, as wearing a face mask is a requisite part of personal protective measures to suppress of the spread of virus. However, simple expeditious awareness among health care staff, including the general population, can decrease the incidence.

Optical Coherence Tomography based indices in predicting functional outcome of macular hole surgery: A retrospective chart review.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess the utility of novel macular hole indices of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and predicting the functional outcome of surgery. METHODS: This was a retrospective chart review of 28 eyes who underwent surgery for idiopathic Full Thickness Macular Hole (FTMH) at The Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi from January 2016 to March 2020. Data of preoperative OCTs were recovered from data server of OCT machine. Measurements of the pre-operative OCTs were calculated using caliper function of OCT software by two independent technicians. Parameters included Macular Hole Index (MHI), Traction Hole Index (THI), Hole Form Factor (HFF) and Diameter Hole Index (DHI) were recorded. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the performance of DHI, THI, HFF and MHI for improved BCVA after surgery, by looking at sensitivity, specificity and area under curve (AUC). P-value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Out of 30 eyes, final data analysis was done for 28 eyes. Mean age was 61.5 ± 6.2 years. Mean pre-operative and 6 months post-operative LogMAR best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was 0.84 ± 0.23 and 0.32 ± 0.30 (p-value <0.001). Area under the curve with 95% confidence interval estimated for DHI, THI, HFF, and MHI was [0.750 (0.559 to 0.889)], [0.827 (0.637 to 0.943)], [0.846 (0.660 to 0.954)], [0.827 (0.637 to 0.943)]. Cut off values for predicting good functional outcome (post-op BCVA equal or better that 0.4) for DHI, THI, HFF and MHI were 0.454, 1.086, 0.856 and 0.501 respectively. All ROC value of less than 0.5 were considered unlikely to predict functional outcomes with macular hole indices. CONCLUSION: Novel macular hole indices can be used as a tool to predict the functional outcomes of macular hole surgery. Larger studies may be required to assess their wider effectiveness.

Spontaneous closure of full thickness macular hole in the presence of an epiretinal membrane in a vitrectomised eye: A case report.

We report the case of a spontaneous closure of full thickness macular hole (FTMH) in the presence of an epiretinal membrane (ERM) in a previously vitrectomised eye. The patient had undergone vitrectomy for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and developed an ERM two weeks after the surgery, which converted into a FTMH after one week. Eight months after the vitrectomy, spontaneous closure of FTMH was observed with an improvement in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) from 20/200 to 20/40. The patient was followed up for four years, and the FTMH remained closed. Spontaneous closure of FTMH is possible even in the presence of an ERM. Follow-up examination with optical coherence tomography (OCT) may be considered before surgery for FTMH, particularly if the surgery is scheduled a few weeks later.

Heavier-than-water silicone oil mixture as a long-term tamponade agent: a pilot study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the tamponade effect on the retina of a heavier-than-water silicone oil mixture and to compare it with the effect of silicone oil. METHODS: Prospective, non-randomised, comparative pilot study. Phakic/pseudophakic patients with retinal detachment undergoing vitrectomy with Densiron 68 or silicone oil were recruited. The 'separation volume', defined as the relative volume of the space between intraocular tamponade agent and retina, was estimated using magnetic resonance imaging in both groups and compared. RESULTS: Nine participants were included; 4 received silicone oil and 5 Densiron 68. The mean separation volume was statistically significantly larger in the silicone oil group (0.477 ± 0.419 cm(3)) than in the Densiron group (0.042 ± 0.013 cm(3); p = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: In this study Densiron achieved an excellent tamponade effect in the retina.