This month we approach the halfway point of 2020, a year eye doctors across the world have waited to experience for decades. A year that affords novel practice advertising opportunities, catchy ophthalmology meeting themes and great marketing ideas for our wonderful industry partners to promote new ophthalmic products.

My family took the celebration to the extreme as we traveled to England to watch the fireworks extravaganza over London EYE for their festive New Year’s merriment to honor the special new year. What a great start to 2020 it was.

Fast forward to June and we are in the process of rebuilding practices, recouping lost money and collections, rebuilding rapport with furloughed employees, revamping our lost clinic and operating room schedules, experiencing travel bans and deciding if we should still wear a mask and gloves in the grocery store or go out to eat at a restaurant. Replacing about 2 months of shutdown across the globe from the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly taken its toll.

LOOKING FOR A BRIGHT SIDE

What positives can we possibly take from this harrowing experience to help us grow? First, life can change in the blink of an eye with no promises or guarantees, so cherish the fact we are getting back to work and live life to the fullest.

Second, money, possessions and prestige are fleeting. During the world shutdown, the poor, middle and upper class all became jobless together as we were forced to “stay home” regardless of our race, gender, politics or life status.

Third, family became the center of our lives again. For the first time, my entire family shared every meal together for nearly 2 months with no work, meeting or school conflicts to sever our bond at the table. Family projects became a daily event after all the school Zoom calls were finished. Evenings were highlighted by movie nights, puzzles and long walks together.

Finally, we realized technologies such as video conferencing and telemedicine can replace the time lost with our colleagues, practices, patients and professional meetings and allow us to connect via the internet no matter our location.

OUR CORNEA ISSUE

In the spirit of putting COVID-19 behind us and helping you and your practice grow, I am honored to invite you to read this month’s edition of Ophthalmology Management with an emphasis on cornea and anterior segment topics.

Alice Epitropoulos, MD, and Arjan Hura, MD, start us out by discussing the management of dry eye disease through a case study presentation. Joe Christenbury, MD, teaches us about exciting advances in anterior segment imaging and new ways to use these devices for corneal pathology treatment. Ken Beckman, MD, has a thorough review of the “ins and outs” of collagen crosslinking and how it can be a useful adjunct to building your practice. Clifford Salinger, MD, covers novel developments and exciting therapies for neurotrophic keratitis. Also, Blake Williamson, MD, shares his experience of having LASIK performed by his father to restore him back to perfect uncorrected vision.

I appreciate all the time and expertise these world-renowned anterior segment doctors have taken to share their knowledge with you.

FINISHING THE YEAR ON A HIGH NOTE

While this year has not been what we expected, we are finally getting back to work and can use the positives from this difficult situation to enhance our growth in our practices and lives. I hope that reading sources like Ophthalmology Management helps you and your practice get back on track for an extremely successful second half of 2020. Stay safe, and I look forward to seeing everyone in person at our next ophthalmology function. OM

W. Barry Lee, MD, FACS is a cornea/anterior segment specialist and partner at Eye Consultants of Atlanta, affiliated with Piedmont Healthcare and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. He has served as medical director of the Georgia Eye Bank since 2009.