AAO report: East coast advances

As always, one of the highlights of this years AAO conference was the exhibition (1). It is always a good place to identify new developments that are likely to reach our shores in the future. It is also interesting to see how, due to differences in the way the FDA approve of medical devices as compared with Europe, finding out where the US actually lags behind us. For example, this year much fuss was made about the FDA approval of the Topcon Maestro OCT, an excellent primary care instrument we have had access to for some years now (2). For once, OCT advances took a back seat at such an exhibition and the focus was more on improving use of the already excellent available technology. ARVO announced its launch of a patient education campaign with the release of some useful education videos – check them out at www.arvo.org/oct.