By Mr MS Samuel, Medical Director, Laser Refractive Surgery Services, Optimax & Ultralase.
I have just returned from Pakistan after attending the first International Conference on Myopia organised by the University of Faisalabad at the School of Optometry. The conference was preceded by the pre-conference workshops on relevant topics on 19 April. The topics for the workshops were carefully selected by the organisers so that the delegates can gain maximum benefit and learn new things. The workshop included sessions on retinal OCT, use of contact lenses in keratoconus and corneal topography, and the quality of teaching in these workshops was of a very high standard. The main conference was divided into excellent scientific sessions keeping in theme with myopia. The Head of the Department, Professor Dr Aamir Chaudhary welcomed the delegates and gave an introduction to the theme of the conference. Dr Komal Atta gave an overview of the University and MTH facilities.
In the scientific sessions the speakers shared their experience of surgical treatments of myopia. Dr Augustine Gonzalez from USA highlighted the importance of pharmacological management of myopia. I gave a brief history of evolution of surgical treatments of myopia and presented his results of myopia treatments with LASEK and LASIK. The presentations from Prof Dr Mazhar Ishaq, Prof Dr Qasim Lateef, Prof Dr Suhail Sarwar, Dr Hashim Ali Khan and Dr Faisal Rasheed and the rest of the speakers were very well received and were thoroughly enjoyed by the delegates.
I was extremely impressed by the quality of poster presentations by the students, which was no less than any big international conferences like ASCRS and ESCRS.
At the close of the meeting Professor Saeed, the Pro Rector of the University, thanked all the speakers for their contributions.
Overall, it was an excellent teaching activity for which the entire organising committee, led by Dr Professor Dr Saeed, deserves a special thanks. It was clear all the delegates enjoyed the meeting and greatly benefited from the event and I understand such conferences will now be a regular event at the University of Faisalabad.
