I like to travel. I’m fortunate enough that my job gets me to explore all corners of the world.
But of all the places I have visited I’m not sure I’ve ever been anywhere quite so welcoming as Hong Kong.
The first ever BCLA Asia, bringing together some of the brightest brains in the business proved this.
It was extraordinary.
An infectious enthusiasm spread like wildfire for 48 hours, the collective energy was buzzing.
It was an honour to be there and to receive such a welcome from our hosts was something that will stay with us forever.
There is clearly a huge passion for contact lenses in Hong Kong and, indeed, across Asia.
The conference heard of the opportunities to grow the sector further and the hunger for more education, workshops and shared learning was obvious to all. So much so that we’ve already had lobbying for a follow-up event.
The BCLA Asia conference brought together some of the most exciting current thinking around contact lenses, myopia control and presbyopia.
Credit is due to the BCLA’s Professor James Wolffsohn and Professor Pauline Cho from Hong Kong Polytechnic University for putting together the programme.
Whether it was Kate Gifford’s brilliant session looking at a clinical approach to dry eye, Janis Orr arguing the case for pharmaceuticals for myopia control or Michel Guillon’s dry eye masterclass, the programme had something for everyone.
Every single delegate will have gone away armed with new information, new ideas and new methods to put into practice.
We have a golden generation of passionate thought leaders, visionaries who embrace the possibilities of new technologies and who feel empowered, not threatened, by inevitable change.
BCLA president Brian Tompkins