BOOK REVIEW: Cornea: Fundamentals, Diagnosis and Management

October 12, 2021 Reviewed by Professor Charles McGhee

The textbook Cornea, now in its fifth edition, is a large, two-volume hardback set edited by Mark Mannis and Edward Holland. This edition, released in March 2021, runs to 1,976 pages of contemporary views on corneal and conjunctival disease and surgery, provided by 200 experts in the field.

 

Cornea has held a prominent place in the education of ophthalmologists and corneal subspecialists for nearly a quarter of a century, and I have owned each brilliant edition, including the original three-volume and atlas edition helmed by Krachmer, Mannis and Holland.

 

Cornea has always remained up to date and highly relevant through each iteration. Indeed, I note that many of the references are from the last five years with key elements cited up to 2019 – remarkable in such a large text with the highest quality production values. The edition of many new chapters and incorporation of 80 surgical videos augments nearly 2,500 beautiful images, with the atlas having been incorporated into the main text in recent editions. The images and figures are full colour; well-integrated with themes and typically excellent quality. The larger volume one deals with the fundamentals, diagnosis and management, whereas the (slightly) slimmer volume two covers surgery of the cornea and conjunctiva.

 

One of the best aspects of this new edition is the facility to view all of Cornea’s chapters, videos and images in a searchable fashion on all of your devices: PC, notebook or phone. This excellent and engaging book is an absolute essential for all ophthalmology libraries; a must-have for corneal sub-specialists and a superb reference for all general ophthalmologists in training or practice.

 

Corneal disease specialist and consultant ophthalmologist Professor Charles McGhee is the Maurice Paykel Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology at the University of Auckland, a director of the New Zealand Eye Centre, a former president of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology and a contributor to Cornea.