Patients suffering from eye floaters often resort to consulting more than one ophthalmologist. The purpose of this study, using the Health Belief Model (HBM), was to identify the factors that influence doctor-shopping behavior among patients with eye floaters. In this cross-sectional survey, 175 outpatients who presented floaters symptoms were enrolled. Data from 143 patients (77 first time visitors and 66 doctor-shoppers) who completed the questionnaire were analyzed. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed. We found that women and non-myopia patients were significantly related with frequent attendance and doctor switching. Though the HBM has performed well in a number of health behaviors studies, but most of the conceptual constructors of HBM did not show significant differences between the first time visitors and true doctor-shoppers in this study. Motivation was the only significant category affecting doctor-shopping behavior of patients with eye floaters.

Neovascular glaucoma (NVG) is one of the most aggressive types of glaucoma, and its abnormal fibrovascular tissue growth on the iris and trabecular meshwork may create difficulties to control the intraocular pressure (IOP) and perform the operation such as trabeculectomy. Ex-PRESS glaucoma shunt has been introduced to serve as one alternative operation for glaucoma, and is thought to have the potential advantage of being less traumatic than traditional trabeculectomy. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of primary Ex-PRESS implantation in eyes with NVG. This was a retrospective study of four patients with NVG in whom primary Ex-PRESS implantation was performed between January 2012 and October 2016. After a mean follow-up of 20.8 ± 8.9 months (range, 15–34 months), three of four NVG patients (75.0%) receiving primary Ex-PRESS implantation had postoperative IOP under 21 mmHg without any antiglaucoma medication control at the last follow-up, but shunt reposition had been performed due to failed blebs or recurrent NVG. Besides, the best corrected visual acuity at the last follow-up was stabilized or improved in three of four NVG patients (75.0%), accompanied with the regression of iris neovascularization. Only one patient had self-resolved postoperative hyphema; otherwise, there were no other perioperative complications. Primary Ex-PRESS implantation might constitute a safe and alternative treatment for patients with NVG. In spite of the possible reoperations, the final outcomes were still shown effective after shunt reposition.

Neovascular glaucoma (NVG) is one of the most aggressive types of glaucoma in clinical practice. The outcomes are unsatisfactory despite the successful trabeculectomy with glaucoma shunt insertion. EX-PRESS Glaucoma Filtration Device (Alcon Laboratories, Fort Worth, TX), which is used in open-angle glaucoma surgery, could minimize the potential injury caused by traditional trabeculectomy. However, no study reported about the posterior segment insertion of this device. This article reports an alternative surgical technique and outcomes of pars plana insertion of glaucoma shunt in a patient with refractory NVG. This research was a retrospective study of a patient with refractory NVG and in whom trabeculectomy with EX-PRESS implantation was performed. However, bleb failure developed three times in four years. In this patient, the previous EX-PRESS shunt was retrieved and reinserted into the posterior segment through the pars plana 3.5 mm behind the limbus. The post-operation intraocular pressure was stable for more than eight months after surgery without any surgical intervention or antiglaucoma medication use. No discomfort nor major complication was observed after this operation. Pars plana insertion of glaucoma shunt may provide an alternative to treat refractory NVG in patients who had received pars plana vitrectomy.

Rationale: Anterior chamber intraocular lens (ACIOL) remains a surgical option for visual rehabilitation during complicated cataract surgeries with minimal or no capsular support. ACIOL causing scleral perforation is rare, and the involved causes remain debatable. Patient concerns: Here, we present the case of a 62-year-old female with spontaneous protrusion of an angle-supported ACIOL haptic tip through an extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) wound, who presented with progressive right-eye ptosis and right-side headache. Diagnosis: The slit lamp examination showed a vertically aligned angle-supported Kelman Multiflex ACIOL in the anterior chamber. The ACIOL had deviated upward, with upper haptic protruding from the previous ECCE scleral tunnel wound. Fundus examination and optical coherence tomography (OCT) revealed cystoid macular edema (CME) with mild epiretinal membrane (ERM). Interventions: The patient was treated with ACIOL extraction, pars plana vitrectomy, ERM peeling, and scleral-fixated posterior chamber IOL implantation. Outcomes: Three months after surgery, the best-corrected visual acuity in the right eye improved to 20/80 and the right-side headache and hyperemia of the conjunctiva had significantly subsided. Repeated OCT revealed improved CME. Lessons: Poor construction of the scleral tunnel incision may cause wound dehiscence. The vertically aligned ACIOL haptic tip resting at the angle may exert stress toward the dehiscent wound, exacerbating tissue erosion and causing scleral perforation with haptic tip exposure.

Penetrating astigmatic keratotomy (penetrating AK) is a well-known method to correct corneal astigmatism but rarely be performed nowadays. This article reevaluated the clinical effectiveness and confounding factors of penetrating AK. Penetrating AK has been introduced to serve as one alternative operation for astigmatism correction, and is thought to have the potential advantage of being more affordable and easy to perform. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the effectiveness and confounding factors of penetrating AK. The chart of 95 patients with corneal astigmatism (range: 0.75–3.25 diopters [D]) who received penetrating AK from January 2014 to December 2016 was collected. The corneal astigmatism were measured by an autokeratometer (Topcon KR8100PA topographer-autorefractor), and repeated with manual keratometer in low reproducibility cases. All patients received penetrating AK by an experienced ophthalmologist (Dr. Gow-Lieng Tseng, MD, PHD) in the operation room. Among which, 66 patients received penetrating AK with phacoemulsification simultaneously (group A), whereas 29 patients received penetrating AK at least 3 months after phacoemulsification (group B). After excluding the patients combined with other procedures or lost followed up, 79 patients are remaining for analysis. The outcome was evaluated by net correction, the difference between preoperative corneal astigmatism (PCA) and residual corneal astigmatism (RCA). Two sample t tests and Pearson test were used for effectiveness evaluation. For confounding factors, multivariate linear regression was used for statistical analysis. The mean preoperative and postoperative refractive cylinders were 1.97 ± 0.77 and 1.08 ± 0.64 D, respectively, in group A and 2.62 ± 1.05 and 1.51 ± 0.89 D in group B. There were no statistically significant differences in net correction between these two groups (0.9 ± 0.66 vs. 1.1 ± 0.69, P = .214). Higher PCA were associated with higher net correction in both group A (P = .002) and group B (P = .019). Compound myopic astigmatism caused less net correction than others only in group A (P = 0.031). Penetrating AK is an accessible, affordable, and effective way to correct corneal astigmatism. The results of this procedure are comparable to modern methods in patients with low to moderate corneal astigmatism.