Bill Harvey: Stained class

In last week’s issue, as part of the feedback on our dry eye VRICS exercise, I wrote: ‘Most authorities advise the use of this green stain in dry eye assessment. Unlike rose Bengal which causes ocular irritation, lissamine green is well tolerated making it the preferred choice in optometric practice. It shows a high level of affinity in staining degenerated cells, dead cells and mucous fibrils. As such, it is a useful stain in monitoring chronic disease.’

This week, the GOC clarified the legal position on the use of lissamine green by UK clinicians (see https://standards.optical.org/lissamine-green/). They stated: ‘It is the view of the Clinical Consensus Panel based on the evidence available and practice and clinical opinion, that lissamine green is clinically safe to use and that optometrists and contact lens opticians in the UK may within their scope of practice use a CE marked lissamine green impregnated ophthalmic strip for clinical investigations of the ocular surface until further notice.’ It is good to know, as I am sure many of us were using it anyway.