2024 Issue 4 at a Glance:

Esteemed colleagues,

In the fourth issue of 2024, the Turkish Journal of Ophthalmology features six original articles, one review, two case reports, and a letter to the editor with the authors’ reply.

In their article titled “An Investigation of the Psychosocial Outcomes of Dry Eye Disease Treatment in Children with Computer Vision Syndrome”, Temeltürk et al. conducted a study with 38 individuals, mostly girls, and revealed that there was a significant decrease in anxiety levels and improvement in quality of life functionality scores after dry eye disease (DED) treatment in computer vision syndrome (CVS). These findings underline that pediatric patients with CVS-related DED experience substantial psychosocial problems that may be alleviated with appropriate DED treatment (See pages 183-189).

In a comparative study titled “Clinical Outcomes of Enhanced Monofocal (Mono-EDOF) Intraocular Lenses with the Mini-Monovision Technique versus Trifocal Intraocular Lenses: A Comparative Study”, Can and Bayhan share the results of 48 eyes of 24 patients in two groups. They report that enhanced monofocal (mono-EDOF) lenses are not as effective as trifocals for near vision when targeting emmetropia, but when applied with the mini-monovision approach, they improved near vision while largely solving the problems of dysphotopsia and decreased contrast sensitivity seen with trifocal lenses (See pages 190-197).

Çakar Özdal et al. conducted a survey study titled “Treatment of Behçet Uveitis in Türkiye” with a web-based questionnaire sent to uveitis specialists in Türkiye by email. The survey contained 16 questions about the treatment approach to ocular involvement due to Behçet’s disease. Determining the treatment approaches of our colleagues treating uveitis in Türkiye with this survey revealed that awareness could be raised regarding the early initiation of biologic agents in patients with Behçet uveitis, and there is also a need for more information sharing on subjects such as preparation for and safety monitoring of conventional immunosuppressive and anti-TNF-α therapy; drug use during pregnancy; and vaccination and surgery (See pages 198-204).

In their study titled “Emotional State Evaluation of Retinitis Pigmentosa Patients with the Beck Depression Inventory”, Öner et al. assessed 134 people, including the control group, and found that the incidence and severity of depression was higher in patients with retinitis pigmentosa than in normal individuals. As a significant relationship was found between the patient’s functional vision tests and the frequency and severity of depression, it was pointed out that depression can reduce the reliability of visual function tests and reduce the quality of life in these patients. Therefore, it is important to evaluate mental health in addition to functional tests in retinitis pigmentosa (See pages 205-211).

In their highly comprehensive retrospective observational study titled “Traumatic Brain Injury in Admitted Patients with Ocular Trauma”, Zhang et al. showed that 184,124 (58.2%) of 316,485 patients presenting with ocular trauma also had traumatic brain injury. The authors noted that although the mortality rate is low, it should be taken into account that these patients face a difficult rehabilitation process and disability, and similar analytical studies may guide screening and rehabilitation studies (See pages 212-222).

In their retrospective study of 15 eyes of 14 patients titled “Surgical Outcomes of Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment Associated with Regressed Retinopathy of Prematurity”, Özdemir Zeydanlı et al. reported that the failure rate of primary surgery was 53% overall, with rates of 33% in those who underwent scleral buckling (SB), 100% in those who underwent pars plana vitrectomy (PPV), and 40% in those who underwent combined SB-PPV as primary surgery. The authors emphasized the need to create a lifelong examination program aiming to timely identify and address potential complications, especially for non-verbal patients (See pages 223-227).

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is one of the leading causes of vision loss in people older than 55 in Western countries, is also one of the main causes of blindness worldwide. In their review, Neri et al. discuss the different stages of AMD with a special focus on the changes that occur in the choriocapillaris. The choriocapillaris can now be examined in much more detail with imaging techniques such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography, and its various roles in the different stages of AMD are of interest. Both the richness of the visuals and the comprehensive literature analysis of these competent authors make this review an invaluable reference in its field (See pages 228-234).

In their case series titled “Ocular Involvement in Patients with Infantile Nephropathic Cystinosis”, Üzüm et al. evaluated the ocular involvement of 4 patients from 2 families with in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) and OCT findings and showed for the first time with IVCM that crystals accumulated in the corneal epithelium (See pages 235-239).

In a case report titled “Unilateral Papilledema with Bilateral Optic Nerve Sheath Distension”, El-Gendy et al. presents a rare case of unilateral papilledema, which usually shows a fairly symmetrical bilateral pattern. They emphasized the necessity of early detection to prevent optic nerve damage in cases of unilateral papilledema and attempted to explain the unilaterality based on bilateral optic nerve sheath diameter measurements (See pages 240-245).

Mostafa Saadat wrote a letter to the editor regarding the article titled “The Role of FOXP3 Polymorphisms in Graves’ Disease with or without Ophthalmopathy in a Turkish Population” published in our journal, stating that the results reported by Yaylacıoğlu Tuncay et al. should be interpreted with caution considering the inclusion of individuals of both sexes. In their response letter, Yaylacıoğlu Tuncay et al. stated the results in their published article and the results of a re-analysis made by grouping the participants by sex were similar. However, as Mostafa Saadat emphasized in his letter, they agreed that polymorphic loci on the X-chromosome should be analyzed differently from loci on the autosomal chromosomes. The letter written by Mostafa Saadat and the detailed response from Yaylacıoğlu et al. will be a useful source of information for researchers investigating associations with X-linked polymorphic loci (See pages 246-250).

We believe that this issue, which blends directive original research findings, a reference-quality review, and striking, novel case reports, will be of considerable interest to our colleagues.

Respectfully on behalf of the Editorial Board,

Sait Eğrilmez, MD