Femtosecond lasers provide a safe and effective way to create corneal flaps and tunnels, explained Professor Ionannis Pallikaris.

An ocular trauma center is likely to have better patient outcomes than a facility providing a lower level of care.

The age of microkeratomes is coming to an end as femtosecond lasers come of age. That's the chief conclusion drawn by Dr Gunther Grabner, professor of ophthalmology at the Paracelsus University of Salzburg, in a survey on the advantages and limitations of femtosecond lasers.

Dr Rudi Nujits, presented new research on femtosecond laser assisted Descemet Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty (FS-DSEK) at a session on the femtosecond laser and therapeutic corneal surgery.

The search for a presbyopic treatment that is universally effective and universally applicable is viewed in the industry and the profession as the holy grail because of the number of people in the presbyopic age group today.

Refractive outcomes for Femtosecond Lenticule Extraction (FLEx) are getting close to those of eximer-based Femto-LASIK, and patients are expressing high degrees of satisfaction with both techniques, Dr Walter Sekundo told delegates at a session on current trends in laser refractive surgery.

Ophthalmology is perhaps two steps closer to a possible clinical application of lens refilling with silicon gel for restoring ocular accommodation thanks to a refined procedure developed by Dr Okihiro Nishi, MD of the Nishi Eye Hospital, Japan.

Bimanual microincision cataract surgery (MICS) and microaxial phacolemulsification provide optically better incisions but bimanual MICS respects more corneal prolateness than microaxial phaco, Mr Jorge Alio, told delegates. "MICS is associated with less corneal oedema in the short term and less inducation of corneal aberrations in the long term," he said.

In a worldwide first, Dr Luis Ruiz presented the preliminary clinical results of an ongoing pilot study concentrating on the non-invasive intrastromal correction of presbyopia.