Professor Philip Bloom

Professor Philip Bloom qualified in 1984 (from Bristol University) and trained in Bristol, The Western Eye Hospital & Moorfields Eye Hospital. He received the Keeler Scholarship from the Royal College of Ophthalmologists from 1994 -1995 and was awarded the Muthusamy Gold Medal by the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) in 1990. Since 1996 he has been a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at the Western Eye Hospital (Imperial College Healthcare) and Hillingdon Hospital, with special clinical interests in complex Glaucoma & Cataract. He is Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College School of Medicine, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at University College London (UCL) and Associate Professor at Plymouth University School of Medicine & Dentistry. He is Chairman of Glaucoma UK (part of IGA, the International Glaucoma Association), a Trustee and Board Member of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), past President of the RSM Ophthalmology Section, a Keeler Scholarship Board Trustee (Royal College of Ophthalmologists) and is the immediate past President and a past Treasurer of the UK & Ireland Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons (UKISCRS). He is a course leader for Plymouth University’s Post-Graduate Diploma in Ophthalmology and a surgical tutor & microsurgical skills faculty member at the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. In April 2020 he was made a Distinguished Fellow in Glaucoma Surgery (FGS) in the Founding FGS class of the International Society of Glaucoma Surgery (ISGS). He is an Associate Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. His clinical and research interests include minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (including cyclo-photocoagulation), neuro-protection, surgical simulation/training and spectacle independence after cataract surgery.

Clinical, surgical and research interests include: Glaucoma: Use of long-acting preservative-free medical treatments friendly to the ocular surface, reducing the complications and side effects of topical glaucoma medications  Minimising the need for long-term medical glaucoma treatment (i.e. reducing or stopping eyedrops) by Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT)  Minimally / micro-invasive glaucoma surgery, including surgical MIGS devices such as iStent, Hydrus and PreserFlo MicroShunt Treatment of advanced, complex or resistant glaucoma by drainage surgery; including PreserFlo, trabeculectomy and glaucoma drainage devices (drainage tubes, stents or valves)  Appropriate use of anti-metabolite agents (such as 5-fluorouracil or Mitomycin-C) to modulate wound healing, thereby increasing success rates in glaucoma surgery  Use of anti-VEGF agents to treat proliferative neovascular glaucoma from diabetic retinopathy, retinal vascular occlusion or other causes Combined glaucoma and cataract surgery  Cyclo-photocoagulation (endoscopic, trans-scleral and micro-pulse laser treatments) Laser iridotomy to treat appositional angle closure glaucoma, or pigment dispersion with reverse pupil block Cataract: Lens surgery to treat or prevent glaucoma (additionally reducing the need for spectacles)  Combined surgery to treat cataract and glaucoma Gonio-synechiolysis at the time of cataract surgery to reduce the effects of synechial angle closure  Spectacle independence after cataract surgery (including multifocal, extended depth of focus and toric intra-ocular lenses, as well as incisional surgery to correct astigmatism)