“In order to carry a positive action, we must develop here a positive vision.”
—Dalai Lama (pointing to his head)1

The Buddhist leader's words ring true for our daily lives, but perhaps even more so for the practice of ophthalmology. Without sufficient visualization of the pathologies we are confronted with daily, how can we make the correct diagnosis, formulate the best therapeutic course of action, and manage our patients' ophthalmic problems on an ongoing basis?

We are lucky that, in many cases, the anatomy of eye itself provides a window to these pathologies. Practitioners in other medical disciplines no doubt covet the insights that are provided to us through the cornea and other clear ocular media. It is often the case, however, especially in the retina, that the roots of disease and dysfunction are buried more deeply within, making standard imaging insufficient to plumb these depths.

Ophthalmologists and those in the related sciences have repeatedly shown that these physical limitations will not stop us from visualizing what is going on in the back of the eye. Ultrasound provided rough outlines of posterior segment anatomy. Fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography revealed some of the workings of the retinal and choroidal vasculature. Fundus autofluorescence offered another way of visualizing these vessels and adjacent tissues like the retinal pigment epithelium. Optical coherence tomography (OCT)— first in time-domain, then spectral-domain mode—provided “in vivo histopathology” of the layers of the retina. Now enhanced-depth imaging and swept-source OCT are pushing the boundaries of our vision further into the posterior pole, providing images of the choroid and even the posterior sclera.

In this issue, we have a total of 9 articles that focus on the latest developments in retina imaging and visualization, as well as advice from the experts how to apply this technology. Additionally, we are proud to announce the finalists of our Eyetube Ophthalmic Imaging Central contest. We received an impressive number of submissions, and the high quality of all the images that were entered into the contest made it difficult to choose a winner. After careful consideration, we selected the image featured on the cover of this issue (see below). The runners up are featured on page 86-87.

We encourage you to visit the Eyetube Ophthalmic Imaging Central website, at: http://j.mp/15Camq1, and submit your images to this educational and open access-resource.

  1. Dalai Lama: ‘21st century will be much happier.' Today News, NBCNews.com. May 20, 2010. http://www.today.com/ id/37252364/ns/today-today_news/t/dalai-lama-st-century-will-be-much-happier/#.Uii5ZD95GSo. Accessed September 5, 2013.