CIBA's Rome meeting tackles rise of myopia

Over 750 eye care practitioners from around the globe descended on Rome for the first CIBA Vision European Eyelife Summit.

The two-day educational event attracted eye care professionals from 26 countries to a packed programme of lectures and hospitality. Introducing the event, CIBA general manager for Italy, Andrea Giummole, said that Rome had flourished on the back of hard work and a similar dedication should see optometry establish itself as a key discipline in the coming years.

The main session of the first day was introduced and chaired by Professor Brien Holden and concentrated on the global prevalence of myopia and possible ways of preventing the condition. With prevalence as high as 46 per cent in Japan, 59 per cent in Singapore and 42 per cent in the US, Holden jested that 'emmetropes are a dying breed' and that the potential visual and ocular health implications of these figures should concern all.