The surface of the world

As some recompense for the disappointment felt by many over the Covid-enforced cancellation of the TFOS 2020 conference, those of us with an interest in keeping up to date on matters relating to ocular surface disease enjoyed an excellent online virtual meeting recently. The Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS) which hosted the meeting in Rome (figure 1) had managed to gather together key researchers and clinicians from countries across the globe to discuss ‘Unique challenges and unmet needs for the management of ocular surface diseases throughout the world.’ The result gave delegates a chance to hear about groundbreaking research into ocular surface disease, but of perhaps greater interest during these challenging times was the opportunity to hear of some of the very distinct difficulties met in individual countries. It is this I hope to reflect in this article.