Mark L. Dlugoss

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Mark L. Dlugoss, editor-in-chief of Ophthalmology Times (OT), is attending the 2012 congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) in Milan, Italy. As part of OT’s coverage of the meeting, Dlugoss will provide a daily blog offering his observations during the meeting.

 on Twitter. OT Editor-in-Chief Mark Dlugoss will be live tweeting throughout the congress.

The ESCRS is celebrating its 30th Congress this year. In that time frame, the ESCRS has grown this annual meeting from just 200 delegates in 1983 to more than 6,000 cataract and refractive surgeons from all around world, and that total does not include the large contingent of industry members that have filled the exhibition hall over those years.

OT has found the ESCRS meeting to be a rather special and unique meeting. Over the past several years, the ESCRS meeting has unveiled some revolutionary technology (i.e., femtosecond lasers to name one), which has lead to some solid editorial content for the publication.

Upfront, the ESCRS meeting will always be a special meeting for OT. The publication started attending ESCRS with the 2001 meeting in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The U.S. publication came to Amsterdam on a fact-finding mission to determine if there was potential to grow its franchise and brand in the European ophthalmic market.

Arriving with 3,000 magazines to distribute to the ESCRS delegates, OT got its answer rather quickly. All 3,000 magazines were gone by the second day, with many physicians saying, “You should be in this market.”

The warm welcome and overall response from the European ophthalmic community gave OT the information it needed to create a business plan, and convince its management that Europe was a market that needed to be tapped. Several years later, Ophthalmology Times Europe was born and the publication has grown to become a major player in the European ophthalmic market.

Over the years, OT has felt a need to attend the ESCRS meeting because the meeting always seems to serve as a mini-preview of what U.S. ophthalmologists can expect from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) meeting that follows 6 to 8 weeks later.

It’s not that the AAO meeting is inferior to this or other meetings; it’s just that there is a flavor about the ESCRS meeting that usually highlights certain events that gets one excited about the upcoming AAO-whether those events are clinical presentations, the latest new products, or industry happenings.

After every ESCRS meeting, the OT staff comes back to the United States with a few strong editorial article ideas that usually get published in one of the issues that OT distributes at the following AAO meeting.

For example, several years ago at the 2009 ESCRS Congress in Barcelona, physicians from the United States and Europe presented clinical papers discussing a new cataract procedure incorporating femtosecond laser technology. Papers discussed the technologies of LensAR, LenSx (now Alcon), and OptiMedica that would simplify the cataract procedure. Those presentations were the talk of the meeting-and the industry is still talking about the technology and it can do for ophthalmologists.

At last year’s meeting in Vienna, the exhibition hall was buzzing over the latest technology from Bausch + Lomb and Technolas Perfect Vision-the Victus femtosecond laser that performs both cataract and corneal procedures in a single platform. The company also launched its new enVista glistening-free, hydrophobic acrylic IOL. Carl Zeiss Meditec also had surgeons intrigued with its ReLEx smile procedure, which combines femtosecond technology and precise lenticule extraction to perform minimally invasive refractive corrections.

It is these kinds of industry moments that seem to surface at the ESCRS meeting that have physicians talking. These same moments are later showcased and discussed weeks later at the AAO meeting. For OT, it is editorial content to be shared with ophthalmologists who are always interested in the latest and greatest in the market-even if that technology takes some time getting approved in the United States.

For the 2012 ESCRS Congress here in Milan, what trend(s) will emerge? Over the next few days, OT will be in discussions with physician KOLs, industry thought leaders, and ophthalmic manufacturers. The publication hopes to uncover and highlight the latest innovations for ophthalmologists. Stay tuned!

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Articles

Ophthalmology Times Editor-in-Chief, Mark Dlugoss, blogs daily from the 2012 congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS).

Editor's Blog: ESCRS grown to become a unique ophthalmic meeting

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Nidek sets wheels in motion to be GM of health care

Did you miss the first three editor’s blogs from ESCRS? Check them out: 

"ESCRS grown to become a unique ophthalmic meeting"

"Ophthalmologists from around the world come to learn"

The excitement of this and any ESCRS meeting has always been the introductions and launches of new products and technologies. Ophthalmologists have been and will always be intrigued with new technology. And this meeting definitely has had its fair number of additions to the ophthalmic market.

In conversations with physicians, especially U.S. physicians, and industry leaders, there is a common thread that surfaces regarding the latest technology introduced at the ESCRS meetings-Is this technology available in the United States? If not, when do you expect it will be?

The whole industry knows the answers to those questions, but we continue to ask them. Why? Because ophthalmologists, industry leaders, and even the ophthalmic media can't help ourselves. We have to ask. Maybe, just maybe, the answer will be different with a positive reaction.

The answer is always the same: "No, it's not available in the United States," and "We don't know when, or if, we will enter the U.S. market because of the FDA."

The FDA approval process is what it is, and no matter how one feels about the situation, it probably won't change anytime soon.

When American physicians walk into the exhibition hall at the ESCRS meeting and witness the latest ophthalmic technology out at the moment, one can almost see the look of excitement that quickly fades when he/she realizes that it will be years before this technology will be approved in the United States. Of course, in fairness to the FDA, some technology does move faster through the approval process. The femtosecond laser for cataract surgery comes to mind.

American physicians can only be envious of their worldwide colleagues. Not only because of the FDA situation, but because new technology presents new clinical options that physicians around the world can offer to their patients. The U.S. physicians can only feel disappointment that they can't provide those same options.

This is so true when it comes to IOLs. Several new lenses were introduced at this ESCRS meeting. These new lens additions offer ophthalmic physicians in countries that recognize the CE mark with more lens options when treating myopia, presbyopia, and astigmatism. The U.S. physicians can only rely on a handful of lenses to address the eye conditions.

For the companies that manufacture the new technologies, there is frustration as well. They would like to provide more options for all physicians worldwide-especially when "global" marketing is the business model.

How "global" can a company be without the United States? However, there are a few firms in the ophthalmic space that have demonstrated that they can be pretty global, do well financially, and not market in the United States. It can work!

One physician, who is licensed to practice in Europe and the United States, told Ophthalmology Times that he comes to the ESCRS meeting every year to check out the new technology. It's a highlight for him.

However, he said he leaves the meeting with mixed emotions. For his European patients, he can provide quality clinical care and provide them with surgical and pharmaceutical options to improve their vision problems.

When he returns to the United States and comes upon patients with similar eye conditions, he has only limited options, and the frustration becomes apparent when he knows that if a patient were living in Europe, he would have a better clinical solution.

Hopefully, some day there will be "global" harmony for all physicians when it comes to ophthalmic technology and innovation.

 Editor's Blog: ESCRS grown to become a unique ophthalmic meeting

 Editor's Blog: The year of intraocular lenses (IOLs)

Editor's Blog: Ophthalmologists from around the world come to learn

In today's blog from ESCRS, Mark Dlugoss, Ophthalmology Times editor-in-chief, discusses ophthalmic technologies and FDA-related availability issues.

Editor's Blog: Can ophthalmology find technological 'global harmony'?

Did you miss the first two editor’s blogs from ESCRS? Check them out 

Day 3 of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) finds delegates well entrenched in attending the various educational sessions and walking the floor in the exhibit hall.

Peter Barry, MD, president of the ESCRS, pointed out during the opening ceremony that attendance at the meeting has reached more than 6,700 physicians, a record for ESCRS./p>

This meeting has drawn physicians from all over the world. Among the countries represented, there is a large contingent of physicians from the Middle Eastern countries (both at the podium and in the exhibition hall), and fewer from Latin America.

In past years, the Latin American physicians seem to prefer the ESCRS to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) meeting. That trend may have had to do with economics. If they are evaluating the best way to spend a practice's money, physicians may want to consider the meeting with the greater availability of technology.

The Latin American physicians always make a strong presence at all of the top ophthalmic meetings worldwide-AAO, ESCRS, the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), the World Ophthalmology Congress, to name a few.

Recently, the economic environment of the world has Latin American physicians evaluating which meetings are best suited for their educational and technical needs. As a group, it's not that they prefer one meeting to another. They are looking at what's best for them and their practices. They just are not attending meetings in mass as they have done in other years.

A large number of ophthalmologists from Brazil, which represents more than half of the Latin American total, are probably not at this year's ESCRS meeting. Ophthalmology Times has no official confirmation of this fact; it's just that their lack of presence is noticeable.

However, in all fairness, it should be pointed out that the largest Brazilian ophthalmology meeting is also going on at the same time in Sao Paulo. The Brazilian physicians are extremely loyal to their meeting and the special ophthalmic societies that are tied to that meeting.

Whether anyone is actually taking a roll call of physicians, the fact is there are a record number of ophthalmologists in Milan. The educational sessions have been well attended; the exhibition hall has been busy with physicians taking in the new technology.

The bottom line from all this is that ophthalmologists are doing what it takes to keep informed. As the aging world population gets older and the growing cases of eye disease become more and more apparent, physicians are looking to be prepared-as best as they can be, at least.

Mark Dlugoss, Ophthalmology Times editor-in-chief, is blogging daily from ESCRS. Today he discusses the attendance of Latin American physicians at ESCRS.

Did you miss the first editor’s blog from ESCRS? Check it out 

Each year, the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) meeting offers something new in the area of technology and clinical applications to whet the appetite of ophthalmic surgeons.

Many companies present new products and technologies for the European market, but they also present these product introductions to serve as a preview for the upcoming American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) meeting that usually follow 6 to 8 weeks later.

In recent years, the femtosecond lasers technology emerged from the podium of the ESCRS; followed a year later with that technology becoming reality on the exhibit hall of both the ESCRS and AAO meetings. Several clinical procedures were introduced at the ESCRS meeting as well.

The 2012 ESCRS meeting is the meeting where many major companies presented new IOLs.

Bausch + Lomb (B+L), STAAR Surgical, and Carl Zeiss Meditec introduced IOLs at ESCRS. Alcon Laboratories officially launched a couple of lenses at the meeting. There are also many smaller IOL companies at ESCRS that may present new and/or improved technologies. Here are some of this year's offerings:

Alcon launched the AcrySof IQ ReSTOR +2.5 D and the AcrySof IQ ReSTOR Multifocal Toric +2.5 D Lenses. The two lenses enhance the AcrySof portfolio of presbyopia-correcting IOLs. The AcrySof +2.5 D multifocal lens is designed to deliver sharp distance vision for cataract patients with distance-dominant visual needs.

B+L, which launched its enVista lens at last year's ESCRS, has created a toric lens for the enVista platform. The enVista Toric Lens is a hydrophobic acrylic IOL that features a single-piece, modified-C haptic design, which, according to the company, delivers superior rotational stability compared with other IOLs. This lens is also glistening-free, the company notes.

Based on its AT LISA design, Carl Zeiss Meditec presented what it calls the next generation of multifocal for an active lifestyle. The AT LISA tri 839MP is the first trifocal, preloaded, microincision cataract surgery IOL for real intermediate vision. The lens offers optimized vision at far, intermediate, and near distances. The cutting-edge trifocal optic presents for highest optical efficiency at day and night.

STAAR introduced the KS-SP Single-Piece Preloaded IOL. Made from a hydrophobic acrylic material, the lens is delivered into the eye within a small incision. The lens is also glistening-free, according to the company. The other lens that the company presented is the nanoFLEX Collamer Toric IOL that incorporates a proprietary aspheric optic design.

This is just a small sampling of lenses that are being presented at the meeting. It also should be noted all these lenses have the CE mark in Europe (and wherever the mark is recognized). However, they are not approved and available in the United States.

Ophthalmology Times editor-in-chief, Mark Dlugoss, is blogging daily from ESCRS. Today he discusses various releases of intraocular lenses (IOLs).