Conference: Frontline developments

With the expansion of independent prescribing in the UK, the gap between what optometrists are able to achieve either side of the Atlantic is closing. For this reason, it is useful to keep an eye on the latest developments in anterior eye assessment and treatment on show at the AAO conference, as many of these are likely to appear in the UK soon after. This article mentions some new products that caught my attention at this year’s conference.

The use of a flat applanation by contact tonometers results in as much as 50% error, according to Dr Sean McCafferty, CEO of CATS tonometers. The problem is that it is impossible to identify which patients are those likely to show error when IOP is measured in the usual way, where the flattening of the cornea results in corneoscleral buckling, which skews results (figure 1). The CATS tonometer prism uses a curved applanation surface which, according to McCafferty, reduces mechanical error on applanation and reduces error caused this way to just 3%. There are a number of recent studies verifying this claim.¹ Also of interest, the CATS appears not to suffer the post-refractive surgery drop in IOP that usually occurs when the cornea is thinned by laser treatments. The prism is disposable and fits into the same mounting as a traditional Goldmann prism.