Verum writes

Last week's British Contact Lens Association conference inevitably draws our thinking, at this time of year, to the subject of contact lenses. Those who attended this meeting were presumably there because they are already strong and positive advocates of CLs and have realised the value they bring to all aspects of practice profile and development.

The BCLA conference has evolved into a significant event in the world optometric stage and should be on the calendar of all UK professionals involved in CL work. This is, however, not the case. Verum understands that the majority of conference attendees are from overseas, in particular from the Nordic countries, reflecting a degree of apathy on the part of many of our practitioners. The attitude from the UK gate keepers to CLs is reflected in the poor percentage uptake of CLs here. Our foreign counterparts on the other hand show a very positive attitude and make substantial efforts to attend this conference, in turn having a much higher CL wearing population.