Media Type: Textbook

Target Audience: Ophthalmology Residents, Attending Ophthalmologists, and Emergency Room Physicians

Synopsis: The Wills Eye Manual in its fifth edition has succeeded in improving upon its invaluable prior editions with updated information, new topics and over 200 color images. The new edition looks similar to a portable atlas while providing concise information for differential diagnosis, work-up, treatment and follow-up in the emergency room, office or hospital settings. The text is well organized and indexed to avoid redundancy.

Even if you own previous editions, the fifth edition with its updates, new topics and color images should be a part of your resource library.

Review: In this fifth edition of The Wills Eye Manual , the editors have succeeded in improving upon its invaluable prior editions with updated information and over 200 color images. The target audience of ophthalmology attending and resident physicians and emergency room physicians should find the manual extremely useful. The new edition continues to be well organized and indexed providing concise information for differential diagnosis, work-up, treatment and follow-up in the emergency room, office or hospital settings.

The text is divided into 14 chapters beginning with the differential diagnosis of symptoms and signs in the first 2 chapters. The third chapter reviews trauma including step-by-step instructions and detailed drawings for marginal eyelid laceration repair and lateral canthotomy/cantholysis. Chapters 4 through 12 cover subspecialty areas of ophthalmology. Chapter 13 presents some general ophthalmic problems including the phakomatoses. Current imaging techniques including optical coherence tomography are reviewed in chapter 14.

The text concludes with an enhanced pharmacopoeia and appendix. The appendix contains ophthalmic acronyms and abbreviations and new topics including anterior chamber paracentesis, intravitreal injections and antibiotics, and techniques for YAG laser peripheral iridotomy and capsulotomy.

The addition of color photos and drawings to The Will Eye Manual’s fifth edition greatly enhances its usefulness to the reader. The text looks and feels similar to an atlas but with the additional benefits of concise and rapidly obtainable information for diagnosis and treatment. Using ample cross-referencing, the authors have minimized redundancy in the text. The only suggestion for improvement would be to replace the book’s paper cover with a more durable cover because the reader is likely to handle and use the book often.

Contributing physician editors from the Wills Eye Hospital have expanded upon their work in earlier editions to share their wealth of experience and insights. Many of the authors are recognized authorities in their subspecialties and have provided up-to-date information including results of some recent clinical trials. New topics in addition to those in the appendix include refractive surgery complications, iridodialysis/cyclodialysis, sclopetaria, crystalline keratopathy and retinopathy, familial exudative vitreoretinopathy, ptosis, lens-induced glaucoma, polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, choroidal effusions and detachments, and shaken baby syndrome.

Previous editions of The Wills Eye Manual have been important resources for residents and attending physicians in ophthalmology and in the emergency room. This latest edition of the manual is the best of the series because of its presentations of the most current guidelines for care and the inclusion of color photos and figures. The authors succeed in meeting their goals of providing a concise and easily portable text containing rapidly accessible diagnostic and therapeutic information for evaluating eye problems. The authors should expand their target audience to primary care residents and practitioners who would find The Wills Eye Manual a key resource for their practices.

Even if you own previous editions of The Wills Eye Manual , the fifth edition with its updates, new topics and color images should be a part of your resource library.