Out of this world

This year's meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) attracted record numbers. In all, some 10,250 delegates attended the five-day conference held in Fort Lauderdale to attend a wide range of seminars, lectures, workshops and symposia all presenting the latest findings in vision research.

As ever, the scope of the meeting is such that no single article can do it justice and for a more complete look through the abstracts, readers are recommended to visit the website (www.arvo.org).

The renowned Harold Quigley, of the epidemiology of glaucoma fame, presented his concerns about the effectiveness of topical therapy for glaucoma. Although such treatment reduces the progression of glaucoma by up to 60 per cent if used in ideal conditions, real-world conditions tend to make it less than satisfactory. Quigley concluded that doctors need to be more aware of poor compliance from patients and that a new approach to topical treatment or the development of alternative modes of delivery was essential.