Welcome!

Hello! I am a board-certified ophthalmologist and fellowship-trained neuro-ophthalmologist currently in clinical practice. I started Ophthalmology Review in 2015 shortly after I finished taking the board exams for ophthalmology. I wanted to have a way to keep track of all of the tricks, tips, and tools I used to study for the OKAPs and board exams. Plus, since clinical practice won’t necessarily help me remember some of those details about the basic science, I wanted to maintain my edge; hence this site.

While I will work hard to put quality information on this site, copyright restrictions will probably prevent me from putting a whole lot of specific information here. Since this is not in any way meant to be an official site associated with the American Academy of Ophthalmology or American Board of Ophthalmology, I want to be extra careful that the information I provide is all either original content or public information.

Timewise, this site might take a while to gain traction as well – I would love this site to grow a larger community in which we, as present and future colleagues, might be able to help each other learn and understand ophthalmology better. At the same time, my time is pretty limited (since I’m still in full-time clinical medicine) so writing high-quality posts and reviews will be slow-going. In the meantime, please feel free to contribute your own tips and tricks in the comments!

I realize I’m a pretty big nerd, creating a website all about learning ophthalmology. I would also imagine most people are not nearly as interested in remembering the basic science as I am. But that’s ok! Hopefully this site will provide resources and information that can be useful to everyone, whether you’re just trying to find tricks to help pass the various tests we have to take, brush up on a disease you haven’t thought about for 10 years, or looking for new things to learn.

Site Policies

As I've been working on this site, there have been a number of people who have reached out wanting to promote their website/products, offer their help in developing content, or obtain more specific study help. I really appreciate all of the input and feedback! Here are a few basic rules that will hopefully answer some of those questions.

Marketing

All resources that I specifically list or review are evaluated by me. If I write an article listing my favorite books to use for studying, these were the books I personally used in residency, or for board review, or continue to use.
I leave the comment section open on those articles intentionally so that anyone who wishes to share additional resources are welcome to - these comments do not reflect my personal endorsement, but hopefully provide a forum for everyone to learn about the resources available.
I have and will continue to provide individual reviews of textbooks, websites, and other resources geared to learning and reviewing ophthalmology. If any publishing company would like to provide a complimentary copy of their books for me to review, please contact me at ophthreview@gmail.com and I would be happy to discuss this further. However, I cannot guarantee a favorable review. Those reviews will be reflected at the top with the disclosure that I received a complimentary copy for review.

Content Creation

I love that people want to help contribute and write for the site! I'm hoping that as this site continues to grow in content that I can add additional authors and contributors.
However, there are some caveats: first, this is not a peer-reviewed journal. As such, I don't think this website can offer anything for people looking to write articles that will be accepted for publication (though I hope that my articles are of academic rigor and are properly cited. Additionally, the content developed for this site is specifically for education and review - as such, many of the finer details are purposefully deferred because they lie outside the scope of this site.
Finally, I cannot provide or promise any financial compensation for any contributions - at the moment, I don't even generate enough revenue to support the site as it is. Sorry!

Study Help

I'll be writing more on this in the future, but there have been several people who have reached out to me asking about specific advice for studying, and one resident has even initiated a one-on-one coaching session with me after some correspondence through this site.
This is potentially another feature I may offer to some people, and depending on the response and my time availability, it may make sense for me to eventually develop some courses that people can purchase that cover specific topics.
In the meantime, send me an e-mail and I'll do my best to respond! I usually check my e-mail once a day but depending on how busy I am in clinic, I may not respond for a few days.

Disclaimers and Disclosures

While I will make every effort to provide correct and useful information (including discussion of subject material), I am but one person trying to better our clinical education by providing high-quality online content. I am not trying to promote any one particular study tool or product.

Financial Disclosures

However, the time and resources it has taken to grow and develop this website is far more than I ever anticipated, and it is extremely difficult for me to justify this amount of work simply as a hobby. As such, I do want to offer some paid content (in the form of products that you can find here), as well as generate revenue on the site through various indirect sources (Amazon affiliate links, donations, and potentially advertisements in the future). The revenue generated by this site through your support helps pay for the maintenance of the website and infrastructure, allow me to buy textbooks and evaluate premium review content, and also allow me to scale back my clinical practice so that I can devote more time to building this resource for everyone.

Copyright and Image use

I have worked hard on the site to make sure that all of the information and images I post are linked and cited. Unfortunately, because so many images of various ophthalmic diseases are copyrighted, I may not be able to use a whole lot of images (aside from what I am able to link to and cite under educational fair use). I will do my best to cite and link to all content. Everything I post for free on this site is for educational purposes only. All content that I develop for commercial use (review books, etc.) only contain original images or copyrighted materials reproduced with permission.

Other Disclaimers

All material, unless otherwise stated, is my personal opinion and therefore may not be entirely accurate. Typos aside, I try very hard to verify the information I provide on the site, but I make mistakes from time to time. Also, I am not guaranteeing any improvement in your test scores – so use these resources at your own risk.

Also, this website is written by ophthalmologists for the education of medical professionals, and should not be used as a substitute for expert medical advice. Consult your doctor about any concerns you may have about your eyes, vision, or medical condition.

I hope this ends up working out well! Looking forward to building this site!

Kevin
Ophthalmology Review