Programme unveiled for new hybrid BCLA Focus

Programme unveiled for new hybrid BCLA Focus

A new hybrid conference will look at the past, present and future of contact lenses, giving eye care professionals the opportunity to hear from global experts.

‘BCLA Focus’ will be held on Saturday, 11 June and Sunday, 12 June, both online and in person at The Vox Conference Centre in Birmingham, UK and will feature keynote speakers from around the world.

The event is open to members and non-members of the BCLA and will feature a live lecture stream and workshop sessions while providing sponsors and exhibitors the opportunity to discuss the latest innovations and share new products and business strategies.

Among the highlights of a packed programme will be a session presented by Professor James Wolffsohn and Professor Lyndon Jones, looking at what we have learned over the last 10 years that has changed clinical practice.

The session will be chaired by BCLA President Neil Retallic, who said: “It is important to keep up with innovations in ophthalmic technology to be able to offer the best options for a patient’s health and vision related quality of life. This session will reflect on innovations in contact lens practice over the last decade to assess the uptake and how they impact on patient safety, comfort and vision.”

From myopia management through to presbyopia, soft contact lens practice increasingly involves the need to achieve successful lens wear over decades.

A session presented by Karen Walsh, David Webley and Krupa Patel, and sponsored by CooperVision, will explore what drives long-term satisfaction, including discussing what healthy lens wear entails, and how to maximise comfort and vision across a lifetime of wear.

Other highlights include a scleral lens ‘super-session’ with the Global Specialty Lens Symposium which will see an international panel, featuring Shreeti Lakhani, Sophie Taylor-West, Karen DeLoss and Patrick Caroline, discuss their unique experiences and viewpoints of incorporating scleral lenses into their practices.

Associate Professor Nicole Carnt and Clinical Professor Deborah Jones will discuss children and contact lenses and Dr Shehzad Naroo and Professor Philip Morgan will ask what will we learn over the next 10 years that is likely to change clinical practice?

A number of workshops will also be held over the weekend, on topics including corneal topography and biometry theory and practice, orthokeratology, refining and adjusting sclerals, demodex and advanced dry eye.

BCLA chief executive, Luke Stevens-Burt, said: “BCLA Focus is an exciting addition to our annual calendar of events and we will once again bring the expertise of leading global figures to a worldwide audience for a programme that will get everyone thinking about the way we view the world of contact lenses and anterior eye.”

The event will also feature sessions designed for eye care professionals doing or considering doing the BCLA Dry Eye and Myopia Management certificates.

Registration for the CPD-accredited event, which features CooperVision as Partner Sponsor and Alcon and Menicon as Associate Sponsors, is open. For full details visit www.bcla.org.uk