Eyeworld

News Winter 2016 Vol. 12, No. 1 A Cornea Society publication Cornea Day 2016 set for New Orleans C hristopher Rapuano, MD, Philadelphia, past president of the Cornea Society, and Terry Kim, MD, Durham, North Carolina, chair of the ASCRS Cornea Clinical Committee, discussed their expectations for Cornea Day 2016 on May 6 in New Orleans before the AS- CRS•ASOA Symposium & Congress. The Cornea Day program has evolved over the years, Dr. Kim said. "As usual, we're excited about Cornea Day," he said. "It continues to be a very popular program with consistently more than 1,500 attendees." Every year there is an effort to ensure that the content is fresh, up to date, and relevant to the general ophthalmologist as well as the cornea specialist. This includes having advanced topics that are specifically designed with the cornea specialist in mind, Dr. Kim said. This year's Cornea Day will involve a variety of speakers, including many new faces and interna- tional doctors to get a global perspec- tive. The Planning Committee for Cornea Day consists of members of the ASCRS Cornea Clinical Committee and mem- bers of the Cornea Society. The day has been divided into 4 sections: refractive surgery, challenging cornea cases, corne- al and conjunctival surgery, and corneal cataract issues, Dr. Rapuano said. "This is similar to what we've done in the past," he said, "but we tackle different aspects of these topics every year." In the refractive surgery section, Dr. Rapuano said one of the most inter- esting topics will be the treatment of presbyopia. "That's becoming a bigger and bigger issue," he said. There are lenses, the first corneal inlay recently became available in the U.S., and there are other inlays in the pipeline. "People hate presbyopia," he said. "For almost 30 years, people have been able to get rid of glasses with LASIK and PRK. Now many of these patients are hitting the age of 45–50 and don't want to go back to glasses." The last portion of the refrac- tive surgery section will cover challenges such as what to do in cases of epithelial ingrowth, higher order aberrations, and post-LASIK ectasia. The section on challenging cornea cases will take a case-based approach to relatively common problems that cornea specialists see every day, Dr. Rapuano said. It will also look at corneal compli- cations of cosmetic procedures. The third section will cover what's new in corneal surgery and progress in this field. It will focus on procedures like DALK, DSEK, and DMEK. The fourth and final section of Cornea Day will highlight cornea and cataract problems, like IOL selection after refractive surgery, managing un- happy patients, and astigmatism man- agement. Some of the sections will be case-based with a panel, and some will have the speaker discussing each case, Dr. Rapuano said. Dr. Kim said he is particularly ex- cited about this year's section on cornea complications of elective procedures because this is a topic that has not been highlighted before. Presentations will examine the increased attention to elective procedures on the eye and the corneal ramifications they could have. Even just ptosis surgery can poten- tially lead to overexposure of the cornea, Dr. Kim said. The session will also cover cosmetic lenses and color contacts and the complications they could have; many people have easy access to these products and often use them without thinking about the consequences. Eye whitening, iris implants, and conjuncti- val tattooing will also be discussed, Dr. Kim said. The corneal surgery section will be exciting, he said, because physicians are always interested in learning new techniques. Many surgeons are still converting to procedures like DALK and DMEK in the U.S., and there will be tips on surgical techniques and complica- tions. Much of this information will be presented in video format, Dr. Kim said, which helps convey the information more effectively than slides or pictures. Last year's 2-day World Cornea Congress VII took the place of Cornea Day. Cornea Day 2016 is a more compact meeting with a single track and fewer presentations. However, Dr. Rapuano expects Cornea Day 2016 to be a huge success. "Cornea Day works out quite well, and people are happy to have a succinct, jam-packed, high-yield, 1-day learning experience," he said. Dr. Kim thinks that many people find Cornea Day to be a great precursor to the ASCRS•ASOA Symposium & Con- gress. "The latest and greatest topics will be discussed in a very dynamic format that will keep attendees engaged," he said. CN Editors' note: Drs. Kim and Rapuano have no financial interests related to their comments.

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