The potential for using entrustable professional activities in assessing optometric clinical competence.

Qualifications required to practise optometry seek to provide assurance that those completing them have the necessary competencies to be safe and effective clinicians. Often, this assurance is gained via high stakes assessments such as objective structured clinical examinations. This paper introduces entrustable professional activities (EPAs) as a potential alternative approach to assessing optometric clinical competence.

Optometrists need to incorporate their understanding of the impact of dry eye disease in their patient management.

Significance: The impact of dry eye disease on patients' daily lives is understood by optometrists, but they seldom use this understanding in their patient management.

Purpose: Dry eye disease can significantly impact a person's daily life and is known to cause psychological symptoms. Treating and managing patients with dry eye disease can be challenging, as an approach based solely on signs is unlikely to reflect patients' true burden.

Impact of Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy Severity on Scheimpflug-Derived Parameters After Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate how Scheimpflug-derived parameters of eyes with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) are influenced by Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) depending on FECD severity and the presence of subclinical edema.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study including 115 eyes (115 patients) that underwent DMEK for FECD and a control group of 27 eyes with nonpathological corneas was conducted. Preoperative and 6 months postoperative Scheimpflug imaging was used to analyze pachymetry, presence of tomographic features (loss of isopachs/displacement of the thinnest point/focal posterior depression), and corneal backscatter.

[What effect does a face mask have on the surface of the eye?].

Face masks are widely used in dental practices, but little is known about the potential adverse effects of wearing a face mask, covering the mouth-and-nose area, on the condition of the eyes. During COVID-19 times, more eye-related complaints, such as irritated, burning or dry eyes, have been reported and observed as a result of the (mandatory) use of face masks, The combination of wearing a face mask and working on a computer appears to also cause more dry-eye complaints. Symptoms such as headache, double vision, blurry vision, irritated red eyes and/or dry eyes are often diagnosed under the collective term asthenopia, also called 'eye strain' in the literature in English.

The effect of sodium fluorescein on anterior eye surface measurements.

Purpose: During image acquisition, certain topographers require the addition of sodium fluorescein (NaFl) dye to the tear film. This study investigates the effect of NaFl dye on corneal topography and tear surface quality.

Method: The E300 corneal topographer (Medmont International Pty Ltd.