Eye care professionals from around the world will be able to tune in to live-streamed lectures as part of the British Contact Lens Association’s (BCLA) first ever virtual Clinical Conference and Exhibition.
Covid-19 guidelines mean this year’s event cannot be held in person, but the BCLA has moved swiftly to switch to an online-only platform that will be live-streamed across multiple time zones around the world – ensuring a truly global audience.
This innovative live-streaming model will allow eye care professionals to tune in wherever they are in the world, at a time that suits them across a 30-hour period over the weekend of 13 to 14 June.
The conference promises to be an event to remember, featuring a host of passionate speakers who can inspire eye care professionals to make a real difference to patients’ lives.
The meeting will deliver the latest innovation and clinical insight, with world class speakers on all areas of contact lenses and ocular surface health presenting lectures, holding live podium demonstrations and staging a number of sessions showcasing the very latest techniques.
This year’s programme will also be dominated by the ground-breaking Contact Lens Evidence-based Academic Report (Clear) initiative – with lead authors presenting their findings from the global project that has seen 102 eye care professionals contribute to the 302-page document over a period of 21 months.
Professor Lyndon Jones will explore the opportunities available to make the most of modern technology and maximise the potential of contact lenses – ensuring they
are seen as a device that offers so much more than just vision correction.
His session will provide a fascinating glimpse into some of the potential uses for contact lenses in years to come and will outline the amazing developments under way to use contacts for the diagnosis and screening of ocular and systemic disease, treatment of a variety of diseases, unique optical enhancements for low vision, sports enhancement, presbyopia and the potential to use contact lenses for entertainment and education.
By reviewing the physiological and anatomical changes that may occur while wearing contact lenses, Professor Philip Morgan will provide eye care professionals with a better understanding of the key clinical learnings for modern contact lens practice.
His session will consolidate clinical research information about the various physiological and anatomical changes that may result from using contact lenses, taking an anatomy-centric approach to cover changes to the lids and adnexa, the conjunctival regions and the various layers of the cornea. Morgan will present changes that are sub-clinical rather than those that are symptomatic or generally considered as ‘adverse events’.
Fiona Stapleton will summarise the best available evidence for the classification, epidemiology, pathophysiology and management of contact lens complications. Complications will be considered from an aetiological perspective to help practitioners to determine the most appropriate management strategy. Key signs and symptoms underlying major groups of complications will be explored to support the decision-making process.
Meanwhile, Kathryn Richdale will review the ways in which contact lens optics can be measured and manipulated to compensate for refractive error, optimise retinal image quality, allow the presbyopic user to see at multiple viewing distances and control how the young eye grows.
The Clear initiative was made possible by educational grants from Alcon and CooperVision and will set the standard to which researchers and eye care professionals will refer for the latest information in the field and will also highlight potential opportunities for future research.
It provides evidence-based guidance on all aspects of prescribing and fitting contact lenses as part of a concerted drive to provide the best possible patient care.
This year’s virtual conference will also include the only dedicated exhibition to feature innovation and up-to-the-minute technology from the world’s leading contact lens and ocular surface management manufacturers and suppliers.
Luke Stevens-Burt is chief executive at the British Contact Lens Association.
- For more information visit bcla.org.uk