Preventive eye care is a preferred practice that includes recommended regular eye examinations, which is not always followed.
This study examined attitudes of ophthalmologists toward routine eye examinations, analyzed compliance with their own eye examinations, and described reasons for non-compliance.
This was a cross-sectional study involving an online survey, sent to all members of the Israeli Ophthalmological Society (IOS) asking their personal opinions concerning routine eye care, self-performance of these tests, and reasons for non-compliance.
A total of 243 responses were received (59% males, mean age 52 years) representing 40% of IOS members. 98% of respondents think that adults should be routinely screened for eye diseases, most commonly annually (52%) or every two years (36%); however, only 55% of ophthalmologists reported having themselves a routine eye check in the past 3 years, which is significantly lower than their spouse (68%, P = 0.003). Recommendations for routine eye examinations were always higher than their actual performance regardless of the responding ophthalmologists\' gender, age or country of birth. Furthermore, female gender was found to be a negative predictor of having these examinations. Pupil dilation was performed in 38% of ophthalmologists\' testing, even though 80% of them think it is necessary for a complete examination. \'Lack of time\' (35%) and \'forgetfulness\' (31%) were the main reasons provided by ophthalmologists as an explanation for not having regular eye testing.
Ophthalmologists typically recognize the importance of preventive eye care, recommending periodic eye examinations for their patients; however, self-performance of these evaluations by the ophthalmologists themselves is much lower.

UNASSIGNED: Severe acute respiratory syndrome-Coronavirus 2 pandemic has brought the world to a halt. We performed a questionnaire-based survey to know more about these issues which affected them due to this pandemic and resultant lockdown.
UNASSIGNED: A questionnaire-based survey (53 questions) was conducted online among Indian ophthalmologists with a 2-week response time. The invitation to participate was also circulated widely among various ophthalmologists as members on different social media platforms and emails. It was mandatory to answer all the questions in the questionnaire to make it a valid response.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 903 responses were received across the country. A majority of these responses, 403 (44.6%), were from private practitioners. Almost 876 (97%) of the responders had either kept the daily working hours as same as pre-COVID-19 era or had reduced the actual working hours. Overall, 547 (60.6%) responders did not downsize their staff and 569 (63%) did not reduce the staff salary. Consultation charges were not revised by a majority (659, 73%) of responders. Total of 663 (73.4%) were following the appointment system and 702 (77.7%) responders had reduced the number of patients to less than 6 an hour. Only 106 (11.7%) were doing a mandatory RT-PCR test before surgery, whereas 567 (62.8%) did on the basis of suspicious symptoms.
UNASSIGNED: Our survey gives valuable inputs regarding the changes made by different ophthalmologist groups during the times of COVID-19 and lockdown.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ophthalmology practice in the Cairo metropolitan area.
METHODS: This is a cross-sectional observational analytic study among ophthalmologists practicing in different hospitals in the Cairo metropolitan area. The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire covering general measures taken during practice.
RESULTS: The questionnaire was sent to 250 ophthalmologists, with an 82% response rate. Most of the participants were concerned about the economic impact of the pandemic, as there is a 60-80% reduction in the flow of patients with a consequent 80-100% reduction in surgical cases. Most of the participants have access to personal protective equipment, and the safety protocols are followed, especially by the older ophthalmologists. Thus, the surgeons are willing to perform elective surgeries, adhering to strict safety protocols (70.8, 42.6, and 18.8% of the refractive surgeons, corneal surgeons, and retinal surgeons, respectively; p = 0.00). Furthermore, 63.9% of the participants, especially the young ophthalmologists, are willing to see COVID-19 patients and operate on them if needed.
CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic could go on for months or even years with a significant impact on ophthalmology practice. Trying to keep a balance between safety and economic burden, the majority of ophthalmologists are willing to see elective patients and urgently operate on a COVID-19 patient, under adherence to the safety protocols.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has prompted substantial changes in the way ophthalmology is practiced globally. General guidelines on safe ophthalmic practice have been issued by various bodies across the globe including the All India Ophthalmological Society. While these are suitable to ophthalmology overall, they are not entirely suitable to a subspecialty practice, particularly pediatric ophthalmology, strabismus and neuro-ophthalmology, which entails dealing with children, surgery under general anesthesia and managing possible life threatening situations. A group of sub-specialists and anesthetists met virtually and arrived at a consensus with regard to practice and general anesthesia protocols pertaining to these subspecialties of ophthalmology. The recommendations made by the expert group are specific yet can be universally followed to ensure the best and safest outcome for the practitioner and patient alike. The recommendations pertain to listing conditions which need emergency or urgent care in the fields of pediatric ophthalmology and neuro-ophthalmology, precautions and technique of pediatric and neuro-ophthalmic eye examination and a protocol for delivering a safe general anesthesia for a pediatriceye surgery.