As both a medical and surgical specialty, ophthalmology has continued to advance. From an organizational point of view, the most notable event of the past year was the incorporation of a new and independent American Academy of Ophthalmology. The new organization is certain to become the rallying point of ophthalmologists and ophthalmic endeavors.
Clinically, the year was marked by continued work on diabetic retinopathy, new findings that may affect the treatment of choroidal melanomas, new instrumentation for counting corneal endothelial cells, another method for measuring vision, and a new method for the treatment of malignant lid tumors.
Diabetic Retinopathy
Last year we reported the first results of the diabetic retinopathy collaborative study organized by the National Eye Institute. This study is being continued, and the indications for treatment have been refined. Certain risk factors (including retinal hemorrhages, neuvascularization of the disk, and neovascularization elsewhere) have been isolated and delineated. What