Ep 43 - Dr John Arlette - Prevention and Management of Filler Induced Iatrogenic Blindness - Pt 1

JCMS: Author Interviews & Editor's Choice with Dr Kirk Barber (Listen and earn CME credit)

Dr John Arlette joins Kirk Barber to discuss his article, "Prevention and Management of Filler Induced Iatrogenic Stroke of the Eye," from the September/October edition of the Journal Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery.

In this fascinating and important conversation, Kirk and John discuss the rare but potentially life altering instances of blindness caused by filler injections. In the past few decades, minimally-invasive esthetic treatments and the use of injectable Hyaluronic Acid Gels and other filling agents to treat facial esthetics have increased dramatically. Although extremely rare, a filler can cause ocular and orbital ischemia by retrograde flow from the ophthalmic artery when injected in any of the anastomoses of the face. Once filler reaches the central retinal artery, blindness is inevitable, and no treatment is effective. Kirk and John discuss what to do when faced with this rare incident, and the best ways to prevent it.

Dr. Arlette is a dermatologist and clinical professor in the department of surgery, division of plastic surgery at the University of Calgary.

Dr Arlette's co-author on this article is Dr Vivian Hill, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Calgary Medical School, along with Dr Michael Ashenhurst, and Dr Kailun Jiang.

Be sure to check out the second part on this topic with Dr Arlette, based on his JCMS article, "Soft Tissue Filler Therapy and Informed Consent: A Canadian Review." It will be posted one week after this.

JCMS Author Interviews is produced by David McGuffin of Explore Podcast Productions in Ottawa.

Our theme music was composed by Lee Rosevere.

Be sure to also check out the CDA's Residents Podcast, Dermalogues, hosted by Dr Kerri Purdy and available wherever you listen.

For more on the work of the CDA, please visit our website: www.dermatology.ca