6 EyeWorld Asia-Pacific | September 2024 EDITORIAL Abhay Vasavada Regional Managing Editor EyeWorld India This issue of EyeWorld Asia-Pacific features highlights from the recently concluded annual meeting of the APACRS in Chengdu, China. It brings two very important aspects of ophthalmology to light – the fact that there is always room to improve the precision of our techniques; and that there is often no singular way of solving a problem. During his lecture, Dr Shin Yamane talked about his journey with the Yamane intrascleral flanged intraocular lens fixation technique. He discussed the subtle modifications which he has made over the last 7 years, to continuously improve his technique. An important takeaway from his discussion lies with how he has meticulously evaluated his technique in patients, cadaver eyes, simulators and animations. These small changes in the way he marks, how he creates the tunnel and titrates haptic flanging have helped him and subsequently countless other surgeons globally to get better centration and more predictable intrascleral fixation outcomes. The lesson to be learnt from this is that we must each be critical and observant of our practices, even if they appear to be satisfactory at first. By keenly observing your own difficulties, scrutinizing postoperative outcomes and discussing with colleagues, a surgeon will be able to improve, even if such improvement is subtle. Another topic of interest within this issue sees experts from across continents debate and discuss controversial topics such as LASIK or SMILE, Femtosecond Laser Cataract Surgery (FLACS) or manual phacoemulsification and more. I do recommend you consider the pros and cons of each technique before declaring one better than the other. It is especially important to understand whether a particular new technology addresses the limitations of the current gold standard, while adding newer benefits. In today’s times, when patients have several sources of information other than the ophthalmologist, it is also imperative that one is able to guide them regarding what would be the better option for their condition. A particularly sensitive issue in our part of the world is the pricing of the new procedure, particularly in the field of refractive surgery. A very interesting feature in this issue talks about how LASIK as a refractive procedure seems to have declined or plateaued in its demand, compared to several years back. There may be different factors responsible for this, as has been discussed, but it is prudent to understand from this global experience, that nothing is permanent, and that we need to evolve together with nascent trends and practices. Overall, the issue has some great editor’s picks, and I particularly enjoyed reading the techniques of phacosleeve hydrodissection by Dr Anwar from Bangladesh, and the one on intracameral anesthesia by Dr Roberts from Australia. I wish you all happy reading and hope that this issue inspires the innovator in each one of us, as we strive for precision and perfection.
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