Edward Meier, M.D.
Director of Clinical Research
Apex Eye Clinical Research
Cincinnati Eye Institute
Q: Who or what inspires you in the field of medicine?
I look at the people who came before me and some of the amazing things they have figured out how to do. In my field, somebody figured out that you can take a cataract out, and then 50 years later someone thought, “Gee, if we’re taking a cataract out, we should be able to put a lens in.” They spent 30 years developing that and it completely changed cataract surgery. Then people said, “We’ve been taking cataracts out the same way for 75 years. Maybe we can come up with a different machine.” So, the people who spend a good chunk of time trying to figure out how to improve things for everybody are pretty cool. What we do in medicine sometimes becomes almost routine, but then you step back and think, “Good gracious! I’m cutting somebody’s eye open and removing a large structure in the eye, putting a lens in its place and they’re going to go home a half-hour after their surgery is over and probably see pretty well within a couple of days."
Q: Please share your most exciting news as it relates to research and innovation.
There’s been some new research and development in lens power calculation. So, when we do cataract surgery, we put a lens implant in, and we can adjust the power of the lens to whatever the patient’s needs are for glasses or eliminate the need for glasses altogether. We are using newer and better formulas to do a much better job of predicting that so more patients don’t need glasses after surgery or at least hit the target that we’re shooting for. That’s super exciting.
In macular degeneration, there is new research and there are more injection medicines for wet macular degeneration. Twenty years ago, if you had wet macular degeneration, you were going to lose your central vision. Now we can prevent it pretty well. Growing up in the era before that happened, to be able to preserve people’s vision when before we couldn’t is nothing short of miraculous. We keep getting better anti-inflammatories, better glaucoma medicines and better medicines for allergies.
Q: How has the pandemic affected your mental reserves when you are at work?
As we’ve gotten deeper into it, it’s gotten better or maybe I’ve gotten more used to it. When the pandemic first started, our office implemented a bunch of changes. For instance, patients can’t bring family members in anymore unless they need to. People wait in the parking lot instead of our office, which slows things down a bit. At the start, it was all so tricky, but my staff has worked hard and bent over backward to make things as good as they can be. That’s helped a bunch. I have great people I work with, which makes my life a whole lot easier. We are making it through and making the best of it because you can either sit around and complain or make it work as best you can. You’ve got to roll with it. Patients have also been flexible and understanding because we are all in unchartered territory.