Rehan M. Hussain, MD

Rehan M. Hussain, MD I am a board certified ophthalmologist with additional fellowship training in vitreoretinal surgery

Highlights from the 2025 annual meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists. Always great to catch up with fri...
08/03/2025

Highlights from the 2025 annual meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists. Always great to catch up with friends and exchange ideas. As co-chair of the scientific poster contest with Dr. Jessica Lee, I got to review a lot of exceptional posters and learned a lot in the process. Congrats to all the top 10 poster award winners and thanks to our committee that judged 230 posters! I’m already looking forward to next year’s meeting in Montreal, one of my favorite cities.

It’s a privilege to be able to have such an impact on a patient’s life. Being a retina surgeon can have its share of cha...
05/11/2025

It’s a privilege to be able to have such an impact on a patient’s life. Being a retina surgeon can have its share of challenges, but can also be very rewarding. This online review was so touching that I thought I would share.

My favorite professional accomplishment to date 🤩. But in all seriousness, small kind gestures from patients can go a lo...
04/01/2025

My favorite professional accomplishment to date 🤩. But in all seriousness, small kind gestures from patients can go a long way in making a busy retina clinic a rewarding experience. The first gift is from a friendly patient who always tells me how grateful he is to get injections for his wet AMD because his father went blind from the disease. The second patient gave me some locally produced honey…because why not? I drive about 90 minutes each way to my Peru/Ottawa clinics but the very nice patients and staff in the small towns definitely make it worth it.

This RAM (retinal arterial macroanurysm) and subhyaloid hemorrhage reminds me of a sailboat ⛵️ drifting off into the sun...
01/29/2025

This RAM (retinal arterial macroanurysm) and subhyaloid hemorrhage reminds me of a sailboat ⛵️ drifting off into the sunset 🌅 .

Dislocated crystalline lens (bottom of picture) in a gas filled eye following retinal detachment repair. Blunt trauma in...
01/20/2025

Dislocated crystalline lens (bottom of picture) in a gas filled eye following retinal detachment repair. Blunt trauma in the postoperative period caused the lens to fall into the vitreous cavity. A second surgery was performed to remove the lens and place a secondary intraocular lens.

Proud of this team of students:  ,  , and .sayed for their hard work on this review paper about Tyrosine Kinase Inhibito...
12/25/2024

Proud of this team of students: , , and .sayed for their hard work on this review paper about Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors, which are being investigated as a longer lasting treatment option for our retina injection patients. Feel free to check it out in the winter edition of International Ophthalmology Clinics!

Inferotemporally dislocated crystalline lens in a 25 year old male with Marfans Syndrome. This inherited condition affec...
12/09/2024

Inferotemporally dislocated crystalline lens in a 25 year old male with Marfans Syndrome. This inherited condition affects connective tissue, resulting in weakened blood vessels, heart, eyes and bones.

The lens was gradually slipping out of place over the years and best corrected vision had declined to 20/80 with a contact lens. The other eye has no light perception vision since infancy, so numerous surgeons were hesitant to recommend surgery, which is reasonable. However since the patient was no longer able to function at work, he was eager for a treatment.

I performed pars plana vitrectomy, lensectomy and 360 barrier retinal laser to prevent retinal detachment. He is aphakic but doing well with his contact lens, which he is used to wearing for many years. I avoided placing an anterior chamber intraocular lens (ACIOL) because he is young and this increases risk of corneal decompensation over time. Also an ACIOL could worsen his glaucoma. I also avoided a scleral fixated IOL because Marfans patients have abnormally thin sclera.

Thank you  for the invitation to write this article about how retina specialists can use social media to grow their bran...
11/02/2024

Thank you for the invitation to write this article about how retina specialists can use social media to grow their brand and practice. I don’t consider myself to be an “influencer” (not really my goal), but I have enjoyed using Instagram as a platform to connect with other eye care professionals, students, and occasional curious patients. Hopefully this page provides some educational content with occasional humor. Click the link in my bio to read the full article!

Same gene mutation, different clinical presentation. If you saw my last post, I shared a case of a patient with Stargard...
10/09/2024

Same gene mutation, different clinical presentation.

If you saw my last post, I shared a case of a patient with Stargardt disease caused by an ABCA4 gene mutation.

In the pictures shared here, there is another set of eyes affected by an ABCA4 gene mutation, but the clinical diagnosis is more consistent with a cone-rod dystrophy. There is a significant amount of outer retinal degeneration, like you would expect with an older patient suffering from geographic atrophy. There are yellow subretinal deposits but not the pisciform flecks seen with Stargardt disease. It is interesting how there can be such a variety of presentations from the same gene being mutated.

This patient has only count fingers vision in the right eye, whereas the left eye is still 20/20 in spite of the obvious degenerative changes.

This is a nice example of the yellow “pisciform flecks” seen in a young adult male patient with Stargardt disease, which...
10/07/2024

This is a nice example of the yellow “pisciform flecks” seen in a young adult male patient with Stargardt disease, which is the most common inherited retinal dystrophy. Right now this patient still has 20/20 vision, though it is expected to gradually worsen over time. The fluorescein angiogram shows a dark choroid with hyperfluorescence of the pisciform flecks.

Genetic testing confirmed presence of a mutation in the ABCA4 gene. The ABCA4 gene encodes a protein located in the outer segment disc membranes of rod and cone photoreceptors. When this gene is faulty, there is decreased ability to remove waste compounds (vitamin A derivatives) from photoreceptors, which causes the buildup of the yellow material under the retina.

Right now there is no FDA approved treatment for Stargardt disease but there many ongoing clinical trials exploring options such as gene therapy (to replace the faulty ABCA4 gene), complement inhibitors, and visual cycle modulators that slow down Vitamin A metabolism in the retina.

Don’t even try to fight it. You know it’s going in. And so are you.
08/12/2024

Don’t even try to fight it. You know it’s going in. And so are you.

I shared this photo in my stories yesterday, and was pleased to see many of you correctly guess this patient has cytomeg...
02/29/2024

I shared this photo in my stories yesterday, and was pleased to see many of you correctly guess this patient has cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis. This was confirmed with PCR testing of a vitreous sample, which was positive for CMV and negative for herpes simplex virus (HSV) and varicella zoster virus (VZV).

Cytology testing and flow cytometry of the vitreous sample did not show evidence of malignant cells. Typically, Vitreoretinal lymphoma would not present with retinal hemorrhages, which is a clue as to why that was lower on my differential diagnosis.

He was an elderly male with history of lymphoma treated with chemotherapy, which means he was immuncompromised. CMV retinitis pretty much only affects immunocompromised patients, whereas Acute retinal necrosis (caused by HSV and VZV) can affect both immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients. It can be tough to distinguish CMV retinitis and ARN since both can present with retinal whitening, vasculitis, retinal hemorrhages and vitritis. That’s why PCR testing is helpful to guide treatment.

This patient was treated with intravitreal ganciclovir and foscarnet, along with IV ganciclovir and oral valganciclovir. These drugs are useful because they treat CMV, HSV and VZV, whereas acyclovir and valacyclovir can treat HSV and VZV, but do not treat CMV effectively. Unfortunately his vision is limited to hand motions and I am not expecting much recovery even after the inflammation quiets down.

Address

1100 W. Central Road, LL2
Arlington Heights, IL
60005

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 1pm

Telephone

+17082885540

Website

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