One of the rewards of being a surgeon is discovering new techniques that will improve patient outcomes, enhance safety, and promote greater efficiency in the OR. This is true whether we ourselves devise the new technique or we learn it from a colleague or mentor. In either case, our arsenal of procedures is enhanced and we become better equipped to aid our patients and grow our practices.

Additionally, in vitreoretinal surgery, we are continually afforded an abundance of new instrumentation designed specifically for our needs as we adapt to new surgical techniques. Retina surgeons are fortunate that our specialty is particularly committed to sharing information and that we are supportive of one another in our efforts to try out new tools and techniques—we share ideas and surgical pearls through our publications, our clinical meetings, and increasingly, on the Web.

The new surgical vitrectomy platforms and handheld accessories that are available level the surgical playing field. For example, no longer is successful proliferative vitreoretinopathy surgery achieved with the hands of only a few surgeons in the world. With this in mind, education regarding surgical techniques has become even more important. Fortunately, we live in an increasingly connected world where techniques can be visualized on demand.

VIDEOS ON WWW.EYETUBE.NET
Surgical video has become one of our most powerful teaching and learning partners. Video is indispensible to improving surgical skills and widening one's skill set. It allows us to review our cases play-by-play, share complicated case management with others, and observe unique maneuvers developed by other surgeons. The newest programs available for building a surgical video speak to the innate creativity that lives within most surgeons— we can now edit our videos and present them in more interesting, sometimes playful, visual environments to further engage viewers.

In this, our third annual surgery issue, many of the articles are accompanied by surgical videos that are posted on www.eyetube.net, an educational video resource produced by Bryn Mawr Communications, the publisher of Retina Today. These videos, which help to illustrate the points made in the articles, are narrated by the authors to further clarify their techniques. We encourage readers to utilize this educational resource by viewing the content that is posted and contributing your own videos.