Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 9 T he Contact Lens Associa- tion of Ophthalmologists (CLAO) is sponsoring an International Symposium and Congress to be held in Toronto, on June 12–14, 2014. The meeting, which will take place at the InterContinental Toronto Centre Hotel, opens with a Welcome Reception on Thursday, June 12, for all presenters and atten- dees. The program includes two days of sessions on June 13 and 14 featur- ing specialists from around the globe who will be reporting on the latest in myopia control, advances in med- ical and surgical treatment of ocular surface disease, and innovations in contact lens, biometry, and imaging. April 2014 Clear corneal incisions: Femtosecond laser versus keratome Dilraj S. Grewal, MD, Surendra Basti, MD How does the morphology of clear corneal incisions created by a femtosecond laser compare to those made by a manual keratome? That's what investigators in this comparative case series wanted to determine. In this study, they compared clear corneal incisions made with the Catalys laser to those made with a 2.65 mm steel keratome. One month after phacoemulsification, investigators found that the mean clear corneal incision length for the 20 eyes in the femtosecond group was 1.99 mm compared with 2.04 mm for the 16 eyes in the keratome group. When they compared endothelial gaping they found there was a mean of 0.14 mm for those with femtosecond-generated incisions versus 0.19 mm for keratome patients. In addition, there was an endothelial misalignment of 0.04 mm for femtosecond patients versus 0.08 mm for those in the keratome group. Also, while three eyes in the keratome group had Descemet's membrane detachments, this did not occur in any of those in the femtosecond group. When it came to posterior wound retraction, this affected just six eyes in the femtosecond group as opposed to 11 in the traditional group. Investigators determined that when the femtosecond laser was used, all measurements for the inci- sions were within 10% of what was intended for length depth and angle measurements. They concluded that there was significantly less endothelial gaping and misalignment as well as Descemet's membrane detachment when a femtosecond laser was used to generate the clear corneal incision rather than a keratome. Biocompatibility and visual outcomes of acrylic IOLs in uveitis Paul J. Tomlins, FRCOphth, Ramesh R. Sivaraj, FRCS(Ed), Saaeha Rauz, PhD, FRCOphth, Alastair K. Denniston, PhD, FRCOphth, Philip I. Murray, PhD, FRCOphth In this retrospective case review, investigators reported on how those with uveitis having cataract surgery fared long term with a single-piece, hydrophilic acrylic intraocular lens (IOL). Included here were 171 eyes of consecutive uveitis patients who underwent phacoemulsification with the same surgeon with implantation of an acrylic IOL. At the mean follow-up of 3.8 years, investigators detected signs of uveal bioincom- patibility in just 31 eyes. Signs of capsule bioincompatibility were noticed in 107 eyes. Posterior capsule opacification was identified in 102 eyes, with just 31 requiring neodymium:YAG capsulotomies. Mean- while, vision remained good, with corrected distance acuity at one year better than 0.3 logMAR or a three-logMAR line improvement in 85% of eyes. Investigators determined that in uveitis cases, visual outcomes were good and uveal and capsule complications low with hydrophilic acrylic IOLs. Review/update: Cataract surgical skill assessment tools Sidharth Puri, BA, Shameema Sikder, MD Ophthalmology training programs were spurred to develop objective measures of resident surgical skills after the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education published standards for residency training programs. Investigators noted that putting these evaluation tools to use was a step toward greater standardization of resident education. In re- viewing current assessment measures, they found that there was some variation in the reliability and validity of cataract surgery evaluation measures. Investigators concluded that it would be up to future evalua- tions to determine the most practical and efficient assessment tools for resident training. In the journal … April 2014 May 2013 April 2014 by Cindy Sebrell ASCRS•ASOA Director of Communications CLAO meeting promises enriching program ASCRS update continued on page 10 Meeting highlights The meeting promises lectures and presentations that will be of interest to the anterior segment surgeon. Deborah S. Jacobs, MD, CLAO's scientific program chair, has incorporated relevant topics for all. There will be general sessions in the mornings on both Friday and Satur- day. Attendees will have the option to choose between two concurrent afternoon sessions based on primary interests. "We're excited about the range of topics over the two days of pre- sentations," she said. "This CLAO program offers cutting-edge educa- tion and pearls for ophthalmolo- gists, optometrists, researchers, contact lens technicians, and

• Cover