CooperVision 2014 Student Summit finds a winner

Six optometry students who had been shortlisted as finalists of the CooperVision 2014 Student Summit converged on Southampton recently. Each had been selected as having undertaken a project which was original, well-designed and added to our current knowledge base. Each presented their work before a panel comprising representatives of each of the universities and an overall winner was selected. Here is a summary of their work.

Lucy Guy

(Cardiff University)

Many of us recommend the use of baby shampoo as a treatment for early anterior blepharitis and, indeed, it is part of the recommendation of our College of Optometrists guidelines for blepharitis treatment. Some authorities in recent years have questioned this advice by suggesting the shampoo may have the effect of destabilising the already likely weakened lipid layer and even might exacerbate matters. Guy used a randomised double blind contralateral eye study of 19 healthy adults to compare the ocular response (measured by a number of accepted techniques such as grading of hyperaemia, staining and break-up times) when using baby shampoo or Blephasol (a proprietary solution for blepharitis management). She found that in a number of areas, most noticeably lipid layer thinning and hyperaemia), the baby shampoo caused more surface changes than the Blephasol.