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The book “Primary Care of the Anterior Segment” by Louis Catania, OD ‘69, FAAO, DSc, has become an iconic textbook in eye care over many years. And, now it’s been updated with a third eponym edition.
First published in 1986, with the updated second edition coming out in 1996, Dr. Catania had been getting a “fair amount of feedback” from optometrists around the country and worldwide asking for a third edition.
“The feedback I’ve gotten over the years on ‘Primary Care of the Anterior Segment’ has been one of the warmest feelings I’ve had with anything I’ve done in my career,” said Dr. Catania. “I hear it all the time from people how much it helped them, how much it affected them, how much it drove them. I pushed a lot of boundaries in optometry my whole career in the therapeutic area and it was really the book that solidified it in people’s minds.”
According to Dr. Catania, the book’s first edition was a product of all of the activity that was going on in the profession of optometry at the time. The thrust of the second book, he said, came from updating all the drugs, expanded diagnostics and therapeutic drugs and an additional chapter on immunology. The edition became necessary because of the advancements in the profession over the past 30 years since the second edition was released. Co-authors for the third edition include Brian Armitage, OD, and Elizabeth Muckley, OD, from The Ohio State College of Optometry.
Considered one of the classic, definitive books for comprehensive anterior segment diagnosis, treatment, and management, the new third edition includes a new chapter on pre- and postoperative management of cataract and refractive surgery and a new chapter on glaucoma, which are major parts of primary care optometry today, along with updates on proprietary therapeutic drugs, and technology additions such as amniotic membranes, injectables, and minor in-office surgical procedures. It contains high-quality photos, six appendices, 336 clinical photos/diagrams/illustrations, and 74 tables.
Dr. Catania has done a good bit of writing over the course of his career, including technical writing for journals.
“I enjoy writing, it flows pretty well. As I’m getting older, I think there’s something in the brain that protects writing skills,” he said. “When I sit down to write, it just flows. That has been my safety valve, just enjoying the writing aspect. There is a special kind of feeling you get when you see the results of all of your efforts turn into a physical entity of a book. It means a lot.”
Dr. Catania is an internationally renowned lecturer on optometry’s role in the diagnosis and treatment of anterior segment diseases. He was a Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) faculty member until 1995, serving as associate professor and is not an adjunct professor. He also directed the Center for Continuing and Post Graduate Education, now the Department of International and Continuing Education (DICE). As the first director of the Center for International Studies, Dr. Catania played a pivotal role in expanding the College’s educational scope and therapeutic education for optometrists worldwide.
He was named Alumnus of the Year from the Alumni Association in 1994. In 2013, Dr. Catania was named the American Academy of Optometry’s Eminent Service Awardee and was inducted into the National Optometry Hall of Fame in 2016.
Dr. Catania has practiced eye care for more than 50 years as well as serving as the chief of eye services for two large medical groups in Rochester, New York, and Philadelphia. Currently, he is with Nicolitz Eye Consultants, a multispecialty ophthalmology group in Jacksonville, Florida.
