Formalin-assisted training eyes for ophthalmic wet lab practice

The foundation of an ophthalmologists' microsurgical career begins in the wet lab. Training on donor cadaveric, animal like goat or pig eyes provide the most realistic surgical environment, however, the availability of a donor's eyes for practice is limited. This scarcity is further escalated in this current coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic where eye donations have decreased. Even among those eyes which find their way into the wet lab, quite a few would have collapsed significantly making training difficult. Therefore, we looked at ways to salvage these collapsed globes. We describe a novel way of salvaging the collapsed eyeballs by injecting formalin in slow boluses into the vitreous cavity. The longer maintenance of the globe integrity without necessitating repeated injections facilitates better quality of surgical training and optimal utilization of these eyes.

Automated summary

The foundation of ophthalmologists' microsurgical career starts in the wet lab, where training with donor cadaveric or animal eyes provides the most realistic surgical environment. However, availability of donor eyes is limited, exacerbated by decreased eye donations during the current pandemic. Researchers have developed a novel method involving slow bolus injections of formalin to salvage collapsed eyeballs, improving training quality and usage of these eyes.