Ophthalmology

Online eye exams spark legal battle over health care access

Policy
July 11, 2025

Brick-and-mortar stores must deal with online competition. Even health clinics face disruption from telemedicine. Yet optometrists have special protection in South Carolina.

When a telehealth company invented a safe and effective way for doctors to renew vision prescriptions remotely, political insiders rallied in Columbia to ban the service in South Carolina. Now, nine years later, the state-sponsored favoritism could end.

The South Carolina Supreme Court, which already rejected an attempt to …

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Make “someday” happen: the years of living dangerously

Physician
September 18, 2024

Bring adventure, mental and physical challenge, change, and calculated risk-taking into your life. I made “someday” happen. You can too. “Someday” it may be too late.

Somewhere, sometime, “someday” slips into our lives. Sometimes “someday” is restless, as in, “Someday I would like to travel to all seven continents.” Sometimes “someday” is bold and fearless—”Someday I want to climb mountains.” Sometimes “someday” is intellectual (learning a second language), athletic (windsurfing), or …

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How South Carolina’s eye care laws are blocking telemedicine innovation

Policy
September 14, 2024

People learned during the COVID pandemic that getting limited care online via telemedicine can be a great way to expand access, especially in rural areas. But Visibly, founded in 2014, was ahead of the curve.

The Chicago-based company invented technology that lets people renew eyeglass prescriptions from home or anywhere with an internet connection. No appointment is necessary, no driving, and no waiting in a lobby. Licensed ophthalmologists review results and …

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Cadaver heads, Botox, and an ophthalmologist turned comedian [PODCAST]

Podcast
April 9, 2024
YouTube video

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Join ophthalmologist Jade Wong as she shares her firsthand experience of attending a Botox training session that took an unexpected turn when cadaver heads became the teaching tools. Discover the initial shock and …

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Challenging patients and the art of empathy

Physician
March 22, 2024

On a fine afternoon, my nurse came in and gave me a heads-up. “Doctor, the next one’s a bit of a handful. Made a fuss scheduling, complained about her old doctor endlessly at reception … doesn’t seem like a picnic.” I smiled reassuringly, reminding her (and myself) that non-judgmental care is the cornerstone of medicine. However, my mind let out a little sigh, knowing that the next half hour was …

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The costly divide: tech innovations and global health inequality

Tech
February 27, 2024

“You have various options for this procedure. However, we will only be able to get the best results with the newest artificial lens on the market. Unfortunately, this type of lens is not covered by any insurance provider since it is sold by a single company in U.S. dollars. Unless you can afford it out of pocket, we would have to go with the older version.”

This is part of a …

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Navigating the art of delivering life-altering medical news [PODCAST]

Podcast
February 3, 2024
YouTube video

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

Join Emily Schehlein, a glaucoma and cataract surgeon. In this episode, we delve into the emotional and ethical complexities of delivering life-altering medical diagnoses. Emily shares her insights and experiences in the world of ophthalmology and how …

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The silenced physician voice

Physician
January 6, 2024

Medicine, for many of us, has been a calling. Since I was a child, I knew I would be a doctor, and I did everything in my power to make that dream come to fruition. Nearly 13 years of education, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, years of lost income and retirement savings, countless hours away from family and loved ones, and a disregard for personal passions and hobbies …

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Disappointment with a specialty board’s response to Israel crisis

Physician
October 20, 2023

I am writing to express my extreme disappointment in my specialty’s national board organization and its lack of response to the tragedy still unfolding in Israel. Ophthalmology oral boards are currently scheduled for 10/20/2023 through 10/22/2023, and I have received multiple notifications this week regarding testing logistics but not a single reference to a terrorist attack on the scale of the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York City. …

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Revelations about physician age [PODCAST]

Podcast
September 14, 2023
YouTube video

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Catch up on old episodes!

We’re joined by Paul Pender, an ophthalmologist and author of Standing Up & Speaking Out for Patients & Doctors. Together, we explore the study’s revelations about physician age, patient outcomes, and the critical role of experience and skill in health care.

Paul …

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Residency reshaped: the courageous journey of switching specialties

Physician
August 8, 2023

“Don’t leave. There are miserable people in this world, and then ones more miserable than the others. My assessment is that you’re in the second category.”

Although it has been over a decade since I resigned from my ophthalmology residency after completing my PGY-2 year, I still remember this attending physician’s words and how they reverberated in my consciousness. I was terrified at his prophecy. Earlier that week, I had requested …

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Why perfectionists in medicine need to practice compassion

Physician
January 3, 2023

I recently read the article, “Perfectionism will kill you.”

Our perfectionism is often worn like a badge of honor. It signifies our complete commitment, at times at the expense of others. Wanting to do your best job is what drives “good” perfectionism. Woody Allen quipped, “80 percent of life is just showing up.” And the other 20 percent is reserved for perfectionists.

Success often comes from attention to detail, something perfectionists …

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When the time comes, be sure there’s something to retire to

Physician
August 30, 2022

“They may say I can’t sing, but they can never say I didn’t sing.”
– Florence Foster Jenkins.

I was a bachelor over the weekend. My wife Beth was in Columbus at a horse show, just killing it, while I languished at home in The Land with the dogs. Much of what a summer typically includes has been stolen by the traitorous behavior of my “good hip.” Where my left hip only …

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Open-angle glaucoma: To screen or not to screen?

Conditions
June 23, 2022

In a published statement in JAMA Network on May 24/31, 2022, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found that there was insufficient evidence for screening for primary open-angle glaucoma in adults. They could not find a way to balance harms versus benefits for screening in general. But is this reasoning faulty?

It is well known that Black and Hispanic populations suffer a greater incidence and severity of glaucoma, …

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The need for ophthalmologists is greater than ever

Education
July 26, 2021

Increased prevalence of ophthalmic diseases due to continued population growth and aging requires an increase in the number of ophthalmologists nationwide. Multiple sources, including the National Eye Institute (NEI) and the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), report that the number of people with the most common eye diseases will double between 2010 and 2050. This includes the elderly suffering from long-term eye diseases such as cataracts, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), …

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3 reasons why smart doctors fail big exams

Education
November 27, 2019

OK, quick — word association time.

I say “doctor,” and you think what? “Smart,” right?

And it’s true. Doctors are smart. But before you buy into the myth that every doctor has breezed through school and could fall out of bed with a #2 pencil and crush an exam without thinking about it, consider that over 1,100 internal medicine doctors fail their board exam every year.

And that’s just one medical specialty. When …

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An ophthalmologist analyzes Joe Biden’s red eye

Conditions
September 14, 2019

Four years ago, there was legitimate concern over Hillary Clinton’s health. Between her coughing spells, facial tics, stumbles and falls, not to mention her prism glasses and inability to hold more than a few campaign events per week, it wasn’t at all clear that she was up to the rigors of being president.

Now it’s Joe Biden and his red eye-raising red flags over his health. His so-called gaffes are well …

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Elon Musk’s girlfriend had eye surgery for depression. Is there science behind that?

Conditions
August 7, 2019

Claire Elise Boucher, 31, known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and visual artist. Her music incorporates elements of varied styles, including dream pop, R&B, electronic music, and hip hop. Since 2018, Boucher has been in a relationship with technology entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Grimes recently became the star of a new Adidas advertising campaign. In announcing this new …

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Why cataract surgery is more complicated than it should be

Policy
April 9, 2018

Eye surgery is a delicate business. It involves operating within an orb the size of a large marble to remove a cataract or repair a retinal detachment.

Not only is superb eye-hand coordination a must, but also an awareness of the myriad other medical issues in the elderly population most in need of eye surgery.

Traditionally, patients undergoing cataract surgery had a preoperative medical evaluation, including blood work, chest X-ray, and EKG, …

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