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EW AAO 2016 54 AAO program preview • October 15–18, 2016 by Ellen Stodola EyeWorld Senior Staff Writer Glaucoma Subspecialty Day at AAO October 2016 Subspecialty day program promises material that attendees can take home and use immediately surgeries, bilateral surgery, combin- ing glaucoma procedures, and more. The next section of the program will turn the focus away from IOP and concentrate on non-IOP factors physicians need to think about in patients with progressive glaucoma, Dr. Piltz-Seymour said. Prior to the midday lunch break, the American Glaucoma Society Sub- specialty Day Lecture will be given by Louis Pasquale, MD, Boston, on how he redefines his approach to primary open-angle glaucoma. The afternoon sessions will begin with clinical patient presenta- tions, Dr. Piltz-Seymour said. These will focus on very complex glau- coma scenarios. The audience will have a chance to vote on manage- ment of these patients, and they will also be discussed by a panel. With so much innovation and so many new techniques in oph- thalmology, an entire section of the Glaucoma Subspecialty Day program will focus on "Past, Present, and Fu- ture of Surgical Techniques." There are so many innovations, but people can lose perspective on how we got to this point, Dr. Piltz-Seymour said. This section will explore the evolu- tion of filtration surgery, tubes, CPC, MIGS, and more. It will also include a presentation on the "Graveyard of Innovation," or those evolutions that didn't quite make it. "We always like to have one session about glaucoma intersecting another area," Dr. Piltz-Seymour said, and this year it will be the intersection of glaucoma and retinal diseases. Presentation topics will touch on anti-VEGF agents, diag- nostic and therapeutic challenges in patients with high myopia, neovas- cular glaucoma, and high IOP after retinal surgery. Finally, the day will end with a section devoted to surgical video nightmares, with surgeons sharing some of their most challenging cases. "I think this day will be per- fect for both glaucoma specialists and general ophthalmologists," Dr. Piltz-Seymour said. Both will find in- formation pertinent to their clinical practices and will find material that they can take home and use right away. "The program will be very clinically based and should have direct applicability to the manage- ment of typical and challenging patients seen daily in our offices," she added. EW Editors' note: Dr. Piltz-Seymour has no financial interests related to her comments. Contact information Piltz-Seymour: jody.seymour@hotmail.com G laucoma Subspecialty Day at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting will take place on Saturday, October 15. The program directors are Joel Schuman, MD, New York, and Jody Piltz-Seymour, MD, Philadelphia. Dr. Piltz-Seymour spoke to EyeWorld about what's coming up in this year's program. It will be a comprehensive program, with didactic sessions, case presentations, and panel discussions. "We're also going to have audience participation for the first time," she said. Attendees will be able to text questions from their cell phones, which will help make the sessions more interactive. The sessions are quite varied this year, Dr. Piltz- Seymour said. The day will begin with what she called the "bread and butter of glaucoma," with a session titled "Is it progression? Is it glaucoma?" Presentations will highlight inter- preting visual field tests, using and deciphering OCT, and evaluating the role of other diagnostic tests. The presentations on diagnostics should be clinically applicable to everyone in the audience, she added. "From there, we move on to controversies that plague all of us," Dr. Piltz-Seymour said. These will include things like cutting-edge

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