Global Orthokeratology Symposium 2005

The third Global Orthokeratology Symposium was held in Chicago in the summer at the Palmer House Hilton,  and I am pleased to report that the UK delegation increased by 300 per cent from last year.

Over 360 delegates attended, which did not include approximately 80 industry members. Although slightly down on last year's meeting, it still meant that the lectures and exhibition hall were always full. As a single-subject conference, all the delegates were enthusiastic and, as previously, a lot of information was gained in informal talks at the bar after the official lectures.

The day began at 7am with manufacturers' workshops, attendance was encouraged by the fact that breakfast was served there, followed by lectures proper from 8am finishing at 5pm and the exhibition hall closed at 7pm. The lectures covered new research and insight into old problems.

Thursday was entirely given over to the fundamentals of orthokeratology, where neophytes could get a good basic understanding of the subject before listening to the more advanced work at the conference proper. The first and second sessions covered myopia and orthokeratology and were moderated by Brien Holden.

Jeff Walline finally presented the results of the CLAMP study (Contact lens and myopia progression). This was a three-year study in which 59 subjects wore RGP lenses and 57 wore soft contact lenses. The results were summarised as follows: