The Lens Newsletter: February 18, 2026

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss...Trauma-related enucleation and evisceration were associated with higher rates of post-operative depression and anxiety A personalized glaucoma coaching program significantly improved medication adherence and reduced related distress compared with standard written education.Modified chitosan medical membrane may decrease post-operative inflammation in pterygium excision.

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode, we discuss:In high-risk individuals, an unhealthy lifestyle, including smoking, significantly increases progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration.In older Asian adults, undiagnosed age-related eye diseases were common and associated with worse vision, quality of life, and higher healthcare costs.Tirzepatide was linked to lower risks of developing POAG, OHTN, and needing glaucoma treatment compared with selective GLP-1 receptor agonists.Gut microbiome changes were linked to retinitis pigmentosa, with antibiotics slowing degeneration in a mouse model.

In this episode, Dr. Mohammad Soleimani, MD, FICO, joins us to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the diagnosis and management of infectious keratitis, a leading cause of preventable corneal blindness worldwide. We discuss challenges in differentiating bacterial from fungal infections, real-world AI performance, smartphone-based diagnostics for underserved regions, and persistent global equity gaps. Dr. Soleimani shares insights from his pioneering work at the intersection of technological innovation, global health, and ocular surface disease.

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss:Glaucoma patients who sleep with 2 pillows at night may have increased nocturnal IOP, worse IOP fluctuations, and lower ocular perfusion pressure.Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, commonly used for weight loss and type 2 diabetes treatment, may be associated with increased risk of developing non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy.Radiomics analysis of optical coherence tomography imaging with machine learning demonstrates accuracy in identifying microscopic corneal texture features in the early stages of keratoconus with potential to serve as an image biomarker for disease detection.

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss…OCT thinning predicts glaucoma progression, with the circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer more informative in early disease and macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer becoming more useful in later stages.Some red-light therapy devices for myopia may exceed safety limits within standard treatment times, highlighting the need for independent validation.Adults with migraine had a significantly higher risk of developing central serous chorioretinopathy over five years compared with matched controls.

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss…Associations have been noted between primary open angle/normal tension glaucoma and dementia but do not seem to be correlated with the APOE genotype, the strongest known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Retinal imaging may be an important player in the future diagnosis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia and pulmonary hypertension in neonates.Perimenopause is associated with a clear second peak of uveitis activity after pubertal peak.

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss…When the American Joint Committee on Cancer’s classification for uveal melanoma is challenged, a new staging system is proposed that incorporates tumor volume, clinical risk factors, and genetic alterations.GLP-1 receptor agonists are linked to a >90% reduced risk over 10 years of developing nonexudative age-related macular degeneration when compared to other weight-loss drugs in obese, non-diabetic individuals.Migraines are independently associated with higher rates of central serous chorioretinopathy when compared to controls.Eye drops containing siRNA (GalNAc-modified siHOTAIR) are comparable to anti-VEGF injections, suppressing inflammation, vascular mediators, endothelial permeability, and angiogenesis in diabetic rats.

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss:Circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer predicts visual field loss early in glaucoma, while macular ganglion cell inner plexiform layer becomes more informative with advancing disease.Although intraocular pressure has been proven as a continuous risk factor when treating glaucoma, the historic intraocular pressure cutoff of 22 millimeters of mercury is used by many clinicians as an inflection point for initiating or escalating intraocular pressure-lowering therapies in glaucoma patients. Elevated aqueous humor L-lactate in uveal melanoma may reflect tumor metabolism, offering a potential noninvasive biomarker for early lesion detection.

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss…Black, Asian, and Hispanic patients were more likely to have delays in initiation of treatment of nAMD.Patients taking GLP-1 receptor agonists had a 51.7% reduced risk of developing non-infectious uveitis.Implanting multifocal intraocular lenses in children showed improved visual acuity and stereopsis compared to a standard intraocular lens.

Too busy to read the Lens? Listen to our weekly summary here! In this week’s episode we discuss…Impaired fasting glucose and diabetes are linked to significantly increased risk of third, fourth, and sixth cranial-nerve palsies.Experts created standardized grading scales to improve detection and management of ocular toxicities from emerging cancer therapies.ChatGPT o1 Pro performed comparably to glaucoma specialists in diagnosing glaucoma from visual field and OCT-RNFL data.