Vitreoretinal Diseases Department (Department 3)

Tianjin Eye Hospital’s Department of Vitreoretinal Diseases (Department 3) specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases of the fundus (such as diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusion), optic nerve diseases, uveitis, and macular diseases, using various nonsurgical treatment methods as its principal approach. The department has strong technical capabilities. It is headed by Professor Han Mei, who has extensive clinical and scientific research experience. Staff composition: 1 chief physician, 3 associate chief physicians, and 3 attending physicians. The department has trained numerous master’s students, and currently has 6 master’s students enrolled. It has 5 inpatient beds, an annual specialized outpatient volume of 30,000 patient visits, nearly 1,000 inpatients per year, and an annual surgical volume of approximately 1,000 procedures.

Department Specialties Over the course of several decades, the department has actively explored diseases of the fundus and gradually developed its own distinctive features and clinical priorities. It holds an important guiding position among its peers in China and has developed relatively effective treatment methods for difficult-to-treat fundus diseases, such as refractory diabetic retinopathy, intractable uveitis, and choroidal neovascular diseases of the fundus. In this city, it was the first to initiate screening for retinopathy of prematurity and provide treatment, thereby preserving the visual function of premature infants, avoiding the inconvenience and hardship of families having to seek medical care elsewhere, and earning a good reputation and positive social impact.

Departmental Examination Services The department’s physicians have extensive experience in diagnosing fundus diseases. Relevant examinations, such as fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA), indocyanine green choroidal angiography (ICGA), and optical coherence tomography of the eye (OCT), are all personally performed by senior ophthalmologists. Lesions are dynamically observed in a more comprehensive manner informed by clinical reasoning, greatly improving the diagnostic accuracy of fundus diseases while also enhancing physicians’ understanding of fundus diseases—particularly helping them observe lesion locations and select different treatment decisions.

Standardization in Ophthalmology Under the leadership of Professor Han Mei, the department values academic exchange and actively promotes academic exchanges with domestic experts, especially fundus disease experts from the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. Every year, dozens of ophthalmologists and graduate students from throughout China come to the department for further training and study. The department also undertakes the teaching and training of physicians undergoing standardized ophthalmology training in Tianjin.

Research and Innovation The department has undertaken applied research for multiple provincial- and ministerial-level projects. It has served as principal investigator for 5 foundation projects at various levels and participated in 7, including 1 national-level project and 3 provincial- or ministerial-level projects. It has received 9 awards, including Tianjin municipal bureau-level awards and awards for scientific and technological progress. Over the past five years, it has published more than 60 papers in academic journals with significant influence in China and abroad, including nearly 10 indexed by SCI, more than 20 papers in the Zhonghua journal series, and more than 30 in Chinese core journals.