"With Retinal Disease, Persistence Can Pay Off" by Yasser Elshatory, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S.
A patient who was initially doing well after a recent cataract surgery, experienced a sudden worsening of vision. Their eye became red, and they developed severe pain. The vision had worsened from 20/30 (two lines from 20/20) to counting fingers (only able to count fingers of the examiner presented one foot away from their face). I examined the patient, who had severe inflammation in the eye, and I performed an ultrasound of the eye, which showed dense inflammation in the vitreous cavity. Fig. 1. Ultrasound image of the eye showing grainy white dense material consistent with infectious/inflammatory debris. Normally, the vitreous cavity is clear, allowing light to pass through largely unimpeded to the retina. In this case, the vitreous inflammation was due to a severe infection following cataract surgery known as endophthalmitis. I discussed the diagnosis with the patient, and recommended treatment in the office, where I would first anesthetize ...