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Refractive surgeons wishing to achieve successful penetrating keratoplasty need only plan their surgeries more closely.

A target IOP should be set whenever the diagnosis of ocular hypertension or glaucoma is first made, and it should be re-evaluated at each follow-up visit as part of the assessment of the efficacy of treatment for stopping visual field progression and protecting the optic nerve, said Curt Hartleben, MD, at the World Congress of Ophthalmology.

Evidence-based medicine has provided some guidance on the management of herpes simplex virus (HSV) keratitis, but there are still many questions left unanswered, said Thomas J. Liesegang, MD, at the World Congress of Ophthalmology.

Imaging is an essential part of glaucoma management, but while structural damage is frequently apparent before identifiable visual field loss occurs, both functional testing and quantitative imaging should always be performed in eyes with either early or moderate disease, said David F. Garway-Heath, MD.

For six days São Paulo, Brazil, will be the "Mecca" of ophthalmology. On Sunday, it was "get-acquainted day" as ophthalmic colleagues met to renew friendships with fellow colleagues and friends in industry. The Exhibit Hall opened late in the morning, drawing crowds of physicians to view the latest technology in ophthalmology.

More than 15,000 ophthalmologists from more than 110 countries are registered to attend, and more than 4,000 scientific papers were submitted for consideration. The schedule features more than 400 sessions in addition to subspecialty days, with some 2,400 speakers from all regions of the world.

The 2006 World Ophthalmology Congress (WOC) commenced Sunday in São Paulo, Brazil. With the first non-governmental organization (NGO) forum on vision and blindness prevention. The forum promoted the visibility of non-profit organizations that focus both on blindness prevention and assisting the visually impaired, contributing to an exchange of experiences between entities from all continents and from different socioeconomic realities, as well as organizing and providing a complete record of entities that cater to this area.

Asia Pacific Survey

This month we had the pleasure of speaking with Zdenek Gregor, FRCS, FRCOphth, President of the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE). You can read what he had to say in our interview with Dr Gregor. Just as a taster, here is some background information on the society.

Accommodative lenses on the whole are showing significant promise and have certain advantages over multifocal IOLs because they do not have different refractive zones, contrast or glare problems

I was delighted with the results. My patient's subsequent visits at 12 and 18 months post surgery were equally encouraging as endothelial cell count and corrected vision remained unchanged

Anterior chamber angle-supported phakic intraocular lenses have now become a viable alternative for the correction of moderate and high refractive errors with excellent levels of efficacy, predictability and safety.

CE-marked since October 2004 and approved by the FDA in March 2005, the ReZoom IOL (AMO, Santa Ana, California, USA) was designed to provide hyperopic cataract patients with greater independence from glasses, although good visual outcomes can also be achieved in other patients. However, patient selection is essential and one of the criteria that candidates for multifocal IOLs must fulfil is an adaptable and open-minded personality. Patients should not have unrealistic expectations and should not be looking for perfect vision. Surgeons must also emphasize to patients that neuroadaptation is required to adjust to a new visual system and this might take a few months.

Since its inception in 1956, the European Society of Ophthalmology (SOE) has grown from a small entity into a conglomerate of national ophthalmological societies from all 40 European countries, representing more than 40,000 European ophthalmologists. We speak with President Zdenek Gregor about the changing face of the society, the importance of collaboration and the way the society has adapted to an ever-evolving Europe.

Happy New Year to you all and welcome to the second edition of Ophthalmology Times Europe.

Published in the September/October 2005 edition of Journal of Refractive Surgery, Thomas Hammer and colleagues compared the quality and reproducibility of cuts produced by four automatic microkeratomes, and found that each performed similarly on overall quality of cut surface, with one out of the four, performing exceptionally better than the rest on quality of cut edge.

The 2005 annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) saw the event record the third highest attendance figures in its history.

The implantation of IOLs in the eye has been part of cataract surgery practice for many years; however, it is only in more recent years that these implants have become available for refractive correction. To date, the resulting vision outcomes have been impressive. In fact, most refractive surgeons believe phakic IOLs will become the procedure of choice for certain forms of refractive correction. Because patients are wary of the perceived invasive nature of this procedure, however, phakic IOLs still have a long way to go in the race to gain patient popularity and trust.

In a bid to enter the growing area of angiogenesis inhibition, Bausch & Lomb has announced the formation of two collaborations, both involving they licensing of anti-angiogenesis compounds for possible ophthalmic use.

The bimanual technique still has a role to play even if it is now possible to perform a coaxial phaco through a microtunnel

European ophthalmologists are earning the respect of those envious of the European passion for crossing boundaries in ophthalmology and venturing into the unknown

This procedure has distinct advantages over conventional surgery for keratoconus and may eventually supersede it

Unlike trabeculectomy, canaloplasty is a non-penetrating procedure that reduces the chance of inducing cataract or causing anterior segment inflammation

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