Media Type: Textbook with DVD-ROM

Synopsis: The fourth edition has been substantially re-edited to include a broad spectrum of topics in corneal surgery complementing the Krachmer, Mannis, and Holland’s Cornea textbook, as well as to appeal to an international readership. To this end Dr. Brightbill has been joined by Drs. Farjo, McDonnell, McGhee, and Serdarevic as co-editors. This textbook is authored by international experts in the field and is extremely well-illustrated with photographs as well as outstanding color and line drawings by Laurel Cook Lhowe. For the first time a DVD is included, the quality of which may be its only weak aspect.

Target Audience: Ophthalmologists.

Review: This book, now in its fourth edition, was re-edited in this edition to support the Krachmer, Mannis, and Holland’s Cornea textbook. As in all of its previous editions, it is very clinically-oriented and lavishly illustrated with extremely clear drawings as well as outstanding clinical photographs. In fact, one of its strongest assets are its illustrations. In this edition Dr. Brightbill has added four additional co-editors, Drs. Peter J. McDonnell, Ayad A. Farjo, Charles N.J. McGhee, and Olivia N. Serdarevic to broaden the international world view of this text. Laurel Cook Howe continues to be the illustrator and as such has done an outstanding job. The selection of authors for the different chapters is well-considered and represents respected experts in the field of surgical cornea.

As in previous editions, the book begins with a brief chapter on the history of corneal transplantation and follows with sections dealing with the adnexa and the clinical evaluation of the cornea but moves quickly into surgical corneal disease beginning with ocular surface surgery and reconstruction. The following sections deal comprehensively with the rapidly expanding field of keratoplasty, including both penetrating and lamellar keratoplasty and conclude with a section on keratoprostheses. The final sections deal with surgical correction of refractive errors, including incisional ablative keratoplasty. Interestingly, this book also includes a section on intraocular lenses which is most helpful especially as they relate to intraocular lens calculations and phakic intraocular lenses.

For the most part the authors are very good, and clearly illustrate their surgical topic or the subject surgical procedure. In some cases, however, the author tends to be somewhat dogmatic and surgeon-specific, thus some chapters are lacking a presentation of a diversity of approach to a particular corneal procedure, which is detriment to the general corneal surgeon reader. This problem, however, is not widespread. The book would be made more valuable if the authors of each chapter discussed different alternatives and approaches to their particular surgical procedure rather than a single approach. The most glaring shortcoming of this book has to do with its multi-media DVD. The coverage of the material offered in the DVD is spotty and the quality is extremely variable. While some videos are very clear, well-edited, and contain an explanatory sound track, others are without sound or show videos that are of such poor quality as to be useless. Many of the videos are poorly edited and do not sufficiently illustrate the procedure and thus add little to the text.

In summary, this book serves as an excellent reference text for the corneal surgeon and has been substantially expanded and improved over its third edition. Some work remains to be done, however, in bringing the audio visual component of the book up to the high standards set by text and illustrations.