BCLA
The British Contact Lens Association offers a formal qualification in the disease with its Dry Eye Management Certificate, which is available to member optometrists and contact lens opticians upon completion of the associated course. The structure of the course is designed to provide expert knowledge in three main areas: dry eye, ocular surface health (OSH), and contact lens retention. Five online modules, including a compulsory MCQ element, and attendance to a relevant dry eye or OSH workshop/peer review must be passed in order to progress to the final examination stage. It is expected that the course is completed within 12 months from the date of enrolment. A BCLA certificate will be issued on successful completion of the course.
The Dry Eye Management Certificate is available on BCLA’s Learning Platform and is free for full members to complete, including access to all course materials and additional resources.
BCLA chief executive Luke Steven-Burt said: ‘The Dry Eye Management Certificate is helping our members improve their clinical expertise, which in turn enhances the patient experience. Ocular surface health is fundamental to the success of the contact lens wearer; managing this for the patient can help with the retention of contact lens patients in practice and minimise drop-outs due to discomfort. The BCLA journal, Contact Lens & Anterior Eye (CLAE), features many articles about dry eye research and management. CLAE is free to BCLA members, while many articles are also available as open access.’
Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society
The Tear Film & Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) is a non-profit organisation that advances research of the tear film and ocular surface while also coordinating international conferences, meetings, workshops and seminars on the subject. In 2007, TFOS facilitated and published the report of the TFOS International Dry Eye Workshop, which became known as TFOS DEWS. Ten years later a second report, TFOS DEWS2, was produced that provided the following definition for the disease: ‘Dry eye is a multifactorial disease of the ocular surface characterised by a loss of homeostasis of the tear film, and accompanied by ocular symptoms, in which tear film instability and hyperosmolarity, ocular surface inflammation and damage, and neurosensory abnormalities play aetiological roles.’
Membership of TFOS offers benefits including access to the organisation’s global community, career advice, networking events and travel grants. Full information on accessing the DEWS2 report and joining TFOS can be found at tearfilm.org.
College of Optometrists
The College of Optometrists’ clinical management guidelines are designed to enable optometrists to make evidence-based clinical decisions on the diagnosis and treatment of eye conditions. The entry on dry eye includes the aetiology of the condition, predisposing factors, symptoms and signs of dry eye, differential diagnosis, management and a plain language summary.
Look After Your Eyes, the College’s website for patients, has a section on dry eye that includes a video presented by Dr Susan Blakeney, former clinical adviser to the College of Optometrists. For its members, the College also offers patient resources and leaflets relating to dry eye.
ABDO
The Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) has pooled all its relevant information on dry eye disease into a dedicated section within its online clinical hub with the aim of enhancing the dispensing optician’s role as a clinician in practice. The section presents a definition and classification of dry eye disease, its pathophysiology, prevalence and epidemiology, diagnosis, assessment, management and education. References are also included, along with a useful further reading section.
AOP
The Association of Optometrists (AOP) hosts a web page for patients that explains dry eye syndrome in non-clinical language (found here) and includes a downloadable leaflet for practitioners to use to reinforce advice given to patients with symptoms of dry eye.
Dry eye expert to present at PAC
Professor Jennifer Craig, head of the Ocular Surface Laboratory at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, will be presenting a dry eye focused session at Specsavers’ Professional Advancement Conference (PAC). A leading expert in the field of dry eye, Craig’s presentation will be entitled: ‘Dry eye management from the front to the back of practice: Optimising patient outcomes in today’s busy practice.’
PAC will be held at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham on October 16. See bit.ly/ 3RcxlFx for full details.
