by Jane Olver, FRCS FRCOphth, President ISD-DE and 2024 London Meeting Organiser, owner and Medical Director, Consultant Oculoplastic Surgeon, Clinica London.
The International Society of Dacryology and Dry Eye (ISD-DE) 2024 update course and scientific meeting ran between 29, 30 and 31 May and was held at the emblematic County Hall.
ISD-DE proved the perfect place for corneal and oculoplastic ophthalmologists. We were able to mingle, network and exchange ideas in relaxed surroundings overlooking the Thames and Big Ben, touch base on common ground and grow from each other’s knowledge. Our common ground was watery and dry eyes, which often co-exist in the same patient. There were also many lectures on watery eyes and endoscopic endonasal DCR surgery.
The organising Clinica London team.
Johnson Yan Ning Neo spoke on challenging corneal ocular surface; Daphna Landau on eyelid surgery and dry eye; Sajjad Ahmad on meibomian gland dysfunction; Siobhan Wren on advanced options for dry eyes; Raman Malhotra on eyelid causes of dry eyes; Francesco Quaranta Leoni on the management of postoperative tearing; Laura Maubon on basic assessment dry eyes; Nizar Din on basic treatments of dry eyes; Tristan McMullan on eyelid causes of watering eyes.
Professor Harminder Dua from Nottingham gave two lectures including the Inaugural Schirmer Lecture, ‘Ocular Surface Reconstruction: Principles and Procedures’, as well as his lecture ‘The Tear Film in Ocular Defence’.
Professor Harminder Dua, the inaugural Schirmer lecturer.
There was also Sai Kolli, Daniel Ezra, Nikolina Budimlija, Vickie Lee, Jonathan Roos, and Rachna Murthy with lectures and workshops on lifestyle and dry eyes, and Melanie Corbett’s ‘Cryptic Culprit in Ocular Surface disease’ – namely cosmetics that seep onto the ocular surface.
Lastly but certainly not least, optometrist superstar Brian Tompkins and his edutainment: ‘Sclerals Rock! Optometry & Dry Eye Management Success’, along with rock music and distinctive educative style.
Delegates and speakers.
Watery eyes at the ISD-DE
When the curtain finally came down at the end of the congress, we were all sad that it was over for another two years. Professor Nikos Trakos handed over the presidency of ISD-DE to Ms Jane Olver, Consultant Ophthalmologist at Clinica London, with a big interest in watering eyes and increasingly in dry eyes. Ms Olver will hold the Presidency from 2024–2026.
In fact, over the next two years the society will work hard to promote the science and medicine of watery and dry eyes, namely the links between cornea and external eye diseases, and the oculoplastic lacrimal surgeons interested in the lacrimal outflow system. We will work to create an updated Constitution and an incorporated charitable organisation (ICO), and have working groups and teaching events. There were so many watery eye highlights of ISD-DE. I have picked just six here:
- Professor Juan Murube del Castille’s inaugural lecture by Professor Geoffrey Rose. Juan Murube was one of the founding fathers of ISD and an inspirator of dacryology. Santiago Ortiz Perez from Granada and Professor Reynaldo Javate both welcomed Geoff and praised Juan Murube, providing their memoirs of the great ophthalmologist from Seville and Madrid. Geoff presented his wonderful lecture on ‘High tension: some unknowns in dacryology’ which was a marvellously thought through lecture on the function of nasolacrimal ducts and the surgical ostium, and comparative nasolacrimal anatomy and function with horses, giraffes, elephants, sheep and cows. It actually brought out goose pimples on my arms as he gave such a knowledgeable and well-prepared lecture.
- Frederick Paulsen from Germany presented a wonderful lecture on the nasolacrimal duct anatomy and function in relation to the ocular surface. In this he delved into the specialised anatomy and the role of the Horner´s muscle in the lacrimal pump, and the role of the cavernous venous sinus around the nasolacrimal duct.
- In the Paediatric Lacrimal Surgery Symposium, chaired by Angela Dolmetsch, controversies on the management of congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction were discussed, including early and late management, simple probing, endoscopically assisted, dacryoplasty and recanalisation. Martin Emesz from Austria argued for early treatment in congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction; Hunter Yuen from Hong Kong argued for the use of the endoscope; Mehdi Fendri from Tunis advocated the use of dacryoplasty in the late management of CNLDO; whilst Reynaldo Javate from the Philippines considered TELDR as the best approach for paediatric NLD obstruction. Lastly, Angela Dolmetsch from Colombia, South America, updated us with her very sound and logical management approach from her extensive experience of paediatric endoscopic endonasal DCR.
- Ivan Haefliger from Switzerland in his talk, ‘Watery eyes – Prevalence of Epiphora in Adults’, did a meta-analysis of A! word Epiphora and found some interesting thought-provoking results.
- Elin Bohman from Sweden is one of the most notable up and coming dacryologists around, with a thoughtful and inquisitive scientific approach to the lacrimal system function. Her talks are always reliable and you know that she is not hypothesising but presenting good evidence.
- The Gold Sponsors FCI held a symposium and workshop on intubation types and techniques.
There were several other excellent symposia and presentations on watering eyes by UK based surgeons: Ahmad Aziz, Hesham Saleh, Saul Rajak, Hew Oliphant, Ramon Malhotra, and many more. The international lacrimal surgeons came from Japan, Singapore, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Tunisia, Estonia, Italy, India, and Greece. My sincerest thanks to all delegates and speakers for making this a wonderful and memorable meeting, I love you all my corneal, plastics and optometry colleagues!
View from the OXO Tower Restaurant gala dinner.
Watch this space: the XVth Congress of ISD-DE will be held in June 2026, in Tallinn, Estonia, to be organised by Dr Kadi Palumaa. For more information, visit: www.isd-de.org
