Welcome to our third annual OSD Saves Photo Contest, where we challenged readers to send us their best cases of neurotrophic keratitis (NK) and ocular surface disease (OSD).
This year, as in prior years, we received a wide array of interesting and novel cases, and so choosing winners in each category was no easy task. Ultimately, we decided to highlight cases in which sound clinical judgement and innovative thinking helped to save or preserve the health of the eye.
The NK category includes two cases wherein real-world factors contributed to worsening of disease. The first is a case of NK in a patient previously diagnosed with herpes simplex virus stromal keratitis, who, due to financial constraints, was nonadherent with medications and follow-up consultations, which ultimately led to the development of a large corneal ulcer associated with unbearable foreign body sensation and photophobia. The second case is a patient with NK potentially related to a prior retinal detachment repair; although a causal link could not be established in this particular patient, there is some evidence in the literature that NK is a rare complication of retinal detachment repair. In the OSD category, we feature two cases of ocular surface squamous neoplasia, one featuring a novel treatment approach, and one highlighting the role of anterior-segment optical coherence tomography in confirming the diagnosis.
Although the cases presented in this volume are seemingly disparate, they have an underlying similarity, in that they underscore the challenge in managing eye disease in everyday clinical practice. Indeed, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all treatment approach to either NK or OSD given the wide array of etiologic and pathobiologic factors that characterize each entity. That is to say that NK and OSD rarely present like we learn about them in textbooks. And so, we hope readers will enjoy and learn from this collection of interesting cases that required out-of-the-box thinking in order to provide truly individualized and sight-saving care to patients.
