EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/220233
November 2013 Watch the EyeWorld Video Reporter at www.EWrePlay.org or LASEK/LASIK in these cases, Dr. Nischal said. "The majority of children with high hyperopia need refractive correction to prevent amblyopia, to improve fine motor skills, and to prevent behavioral issues," he said. "Most will tolerate conservative therapy, and high hyperopia effects near focus." For the minority of patients who do not tolerate conservative therapy, especially those with neurodevelopment or neurobehavioral problems, surgical intervention could be a real benefit, he said, because without it, those patients can have issues with fine motor skills that could lead to educational issues. He said a key question is "does correcting hyperopia by refraction, for example by glasses and then by refractive surgery as the next logical progression, inhibit emmetropization?" "That is quite an important question because if you have a child who's 7 years old, and you decide that you're going to do refractive surgery on this child to get rid of the hyperopia, do you stop the emmetropization, or does it continue?" he asked. "Because if it continues, with long follow-up into the late 20s, and we don't have that in the literature, we're going to end up with myopes." He emphasized both during his lecture and in the discussion period following it that children often rub their eyes, which can lead to serious problems with certain procedures that physicians should be aware of. ISRS symposium examines latest technology Advances in femtosecond laserassisted surgery, presbyopia, and corneal collagen crosslinking were detailed in the International Society of Refractive Surgery (ISRS) symposium, "Lasers, lenses, and lights: latest advances in femtosecond cataract surgery, presbyopia correction, and collagen crosslinking" supported by AcuFocus (Irvine, Calif.). Moderated by J. Bradley Randleman, MD, Atlanta, Ga., and Matteo Piovella, MD, Monza, Italy, the symposium featured four separate sections on the latest in each topic, with leading experts from around the world offering their thoughts and results. The symposium featured a "Femtosecond refractive cataract surgery" section, "Corneal surgery for presbyopia" section, "Advanced technology IOLs for presbyopia: efficacy and quality of vision" section, and "Corneal collagen crosslinking: new techniques and advances" section. Each speaker discussed topics specific to the sections. For instance, Sonia Yoo, MD, Miami, Fla., presented "Femtolaser: is the complication rate decreasing?" and discussed how complication rates appear to be different for more experienced surgeons and new trainees, but overall, it is an effective technology. "Femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery does have some proven benefits over the traditional approach," she said. EW