Preface

 There's likely a good reason for you to read an article in ophthalmology. A career in medicine includes the love of science and personal dedication. At some point in your medical or academic career, you decided to work in a field that improves people's health, an understandable choice—the restoring of any amount of vision to an individual can profoundly improve a person's quality of life. Blindness is an important symptom of many eye disorders. The estimated cost of global vision loss today is \$3 trillion (USD). Science and research have always been crucial to furthering our understanding of ophthalmic conditions and their treatment and prevention. Ophthalmology researches have resulted in major advancements in medical science and ophthalmic practice. Discoveries made in various fields including genetics, immunology, and ocular biology have reshaped the foundations of ophthalmology and formed many new paradigms for the repair, regeneration, and rehabilitation of countless disorders. Enough has been achieved already to make it clear that this field has already produced some fundamental insights and has enormous possibilities for improving human health.

 Imagination is the key to any discovery, and its presence in the science to improve eyesight and vision is no exception. Progress in vision science is racing forward, spurred on by a host of exciting new research discoveries and the efforts of scientists. And the moment the solution to a problem has societal relevance, it is no longer acceptable to restrict the tools used to find the answer to a single field. The complementary nature of many of the researches generates a highly interactive and collaborative environment that promotes the development of novel approaches to address fundamental questions. In the world today, scientists have accomplished that which previously was the domain of miracle workers. I have been inspired by my patients, colleagues, and mentors many times during my career. I have learned that one shining star on a dark night can help a person reach his or her destination. "Hope" is what you and your patient should never lose. I was trilled to be guided by a superb mentor, the late Dr. Ali Asghar Khodadoust, the legend of ophthalmology and a pioneer of eye research, with his deeply serene smile, who always believed, "As long as it is Rooted in the water, there is a Hope to fruit!"

A major challenge for the next decade will be to translate these advances into identifying the design and testing of novel approaches for disease treatments. But, yes … the future is now! This book is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters, which intends to provide readers with a comprehensive overview of the latest and most advanced findings in several aspects of ophthalmology, ophthalmic pathology, ocular imaging, and certain treatment and surgical strategies. It is an excellent, well-integrated review of treatment options in eye disease that aims at providing a thorough overview of the recent developments written by international authors; it can be used as an important reference for clinically oriented ophthalmologists and scientists. Here are many valuable contributions from physicians and scientists who are experts in the field, and I thank all the contributors for their kind efforts in the preparation of this book.

> **Alireza Ziaei, MD**  Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

## **Chapter 1**
