May 2002
Essential Medical Ophthalmology
John D Ferris
It is the biggest danger of specialisation and sub-specialisation: to loose the skill of seeing the patient as a whole and eventually make an avoidable mistake.
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April 2002
The Ageing Eye
Harvard Medical School
This book borders on being patronising. But it's very clear. And because it's clear, this book is probably the best "patient information" book around for the complete picture of elderly eye diseases.
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March 2002
Essential Ophthalmic Surgery
Alexander J. E. Foss
Essential Ophthalmic Surgery has the size, look and feel of a hardback, but it's a paperback.
My only hope is that the idea behind downgrading the book to paperback status had something to do with sticking a ceiling on its cost. Because if the book is more affordable for its target audience of residents and ophthalmic surgeon trainees, then the use of a paper instead of cardboard to house its pages is justifiable. It is such a useful book that it would have been a real shame if residents or surgeons in training had been deprived of it for the sake of its cover.
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February 2002
Complications in phacoemulsification
Edited by William J. Fishkind
Avoidance, recognition and management.
These three words comprise the subtitle for this book-and as a summary of its approach to complications in phacoemulsification: identify where they occur (and aim to avoid them), see them coming (and do something before they get worse) Learn how to proceed once they occur (treat or manage them).
It is a clinical reference book, aimed at ophthalmologists and residents involved with any stage of phacoemulsification.
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January 2002
LASIK and Beyond LASIK
Wavefront Analysis and Customized Ablation
The working title of this book was probably “A review of everything to do with LASIK.” The result is a comprehensive and solid overview of current and historical practices, clinical situations, and technical instrumentation of LASIK interventions.
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December 2001
Glaucoma
Josef Flammer
Explaining diseases to patients in plain language, without diminishing the seriousness of the condition but without frightening them to the point they think they will be blind in a year or two is not an easy task. There is a wide variation in how much (or little) different patients and relatives want to know. This glaucoma book by Josef Flammer, MD, casts a friendly light on these muddy waters. It has three big aims, stated on the front cover: to be a guide for patients, an introduction for care providers, and a reference for quick information - and it lives up to all three of them.
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October 2001
The Art and Science of Cataract Surgery
Benjamin Boyd
Professor Benjamin Boyd, MD, FACS, must be a very busy man. Not judged by the usual publication records - a quick search in Medline reveals that his last article published in a major peer reviewed journal was in 1966 - but by writing ophthalmology textbooks. Since he founded Highlights of Ophthalmology in 1956 he has written 25 volumes of Atlases and textbooks. This book is one of those, dedicated exclusively to cataract surgery.
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September 2001
Cataract Surgery in Complicated Cases
Edited by Lucio Buratto, Robert H. Osher and Samuel Masket
The cataract operation is an extremely successful procedure in developed countries; more than 98% of patients experience functional improvement of their vision. However, as one of the editors tells us "in certain situations, visual outcome can be less than expected". These cases can be due to atypical pre-surgical conditions or complications that arise during the operation. These cases are dealt with in this excellent book. Read more.

July 2001
Refractive surgery -A colour synopsis
Edited by Louis E Probst and John F DoaneThieme,
This is an excellent summary of the state of refractive surgery today. A colour synopsis indeed, full of photographs, drawings and diagrams that make a visual and effective reference guide both for informative reading and for quick reference in the clinic. Once you get the progressive logic by which the chapters have been ordered, it is straightforward to locate a particular section, and the information is organized to make retrieval easy.
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May 2001
Pharmacotherapy in Glaucoma
Edited by Selim Orgül and Josef Flammer
'Pharmacotherapy in Glaucoma' is a collection of expert papers around the
issues of medical treatment of glaucoma. The editors tell us that "this
book should fulfil the expectations of both interested clinicians and
scientists" and it certainly does that.
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April 2001
A practical guide to minimal surgery for retinal detachment
Diagnosis – Segmented buckling without drainage – Case presentations
By Ingrid Kreissig
This is a well written, practical introduction to minimal surgery for retinal detachment. It presents the basic concepts behind diagnostic methods, differential diagnosis and approaches to the treatment of retinal detachment with minimal extra-ocular surgery.
It is a pocket-sized book that will fit comfortably in your lab coat. It looks sturdy enough to stand repeated flicking of pages, although the good quality paper makes it a heavy little companion to carry around all day, as the publishers suggest.
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