The chill of an early spring day was warmed by the buzz of excitement as nearly 150 attendees arrived in central London for the first face-to-face annual Trends in Ophthalmology meeting since the pandemic. Chaired by Ms Susie Morley, attendees were welcomed at the glitzy new venue of the Royal Society of Medicine.
The morning got off to a strong start with the Medical Eye Unit cases from St Thomas’ Hospital, chaired by Dr Jonny Virgo, Dr Tas Braithwaite, and Dr Sui Wong. There were weird and wonderful uveitis and neuro-ophthalmology cases, including ocular side effects of a check-point inhibitor, ocular involvement in Sweet syndrome, and the conundrum of an undetermined cause of optic disc swelling.
The next session was cataract surgery from all angles, chaired by Professor O’Brart and Mr Mani Bhogal, including a thought-provoking carbon neutral cataract surgery talk by Mr Sandro di Simplicio – did you know that a ten-patient cataract list has the carbon footprint of a return flight to Honolulu?! The difficulties of cataract surgery in dementia patients was discussed, as well as managing unstable lenses and patients post refractive surgery.
The afternoon was all about oculoplastics and the adnexae, with a well-received session chaired by Ms Morley. This covered new horizons for management of thyroid eye disease as well as a whistle-stop tour on the recently described IgG4 related ophthalmic disease, tips on eye removal, and a talk on a post-COVID model for regional skin cancer services that also reduced the service’s carbon footprint.
Mr Paul Nderitu was the winner of this year’s Kitty Heatley Medal and gave an excellent presentation on his research work on artificial intelligence in diabetic eye screening. This was aptly followed by the research section of the meeting, chaired by Professor Hammond, who also provided a brilliant lecture on pollution in ophthalmology; it was refreshing to see the environment featuring so prominently on the meeting’s agenda! The last talk of the day was by Professor John Marshall, on his amazing journey to become a successful entrepreneur and pioneer in ophthalmology. Attendees were then treated to an evening of drinks and food in the atrium of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Refreshed and rejuvenated, guests returned for the second day of Trends, which kicked off with ophthalmology trainees from St Thomas’ Hospital presenting cases of the year from the various subspecialties, each more interesting than the last, and covering issues as diverse as sickle cell disease, ocular trauma, and the current legislation regarding dangerous dogs!
Then the vitreo-retinal (VR) session got underway, chaired by Mr Roger Wong, with talks covering pearls of surgical management by Dr Thanasis Nikolakopoulos from Greece, to current hot topics such as artificial intelligence in VR and retinal gene therapy.
The afternoon session was Trends in Glaucoma, chaired by Mr Ian Rodrigues, with talks by esteemed local and international guests, including Professor Paul Foster speaking about angleclosure glaucoma, Associate Professor Jella An (who presented virtually from the USA) describing the new Rho-kinase inhibitor class of IOP lowering drops, and Associate Professor Rahat Husain discussing virtual glaucoma clinics in Singapore.
Finally, it was the highlight of the meeting: Mr Alistair Wood, CEO of the Ridley Eye Clinic Foundation, presented the Ridley Medal to Professor K. Sheng Lim, who then gave the Sir Harold Ridley Lecture – a wonderful talk describing his journey through life and academic work in glaucoma, which he humorously associated to his choice of eight desert island tracks. This session then came to a close, but it is safe to say that everyone left more knowledgeable than before, with audience participation being one the best of any meeting.
The next Trends in Ophthalmology meeting is planned to take place face-to-face across 7-8 March 2024 at the Royal Society of Medicine, London.
