Cataract meeting outgrows Sarasota, moves to Naples in 2016

The annual “Cataract Surgery: Telling It Like It Is!” meeting has grown so much that after five years, it has had to relocate from Sarasota to Naples, Florida, to accommodate all the attendees and exhibitors.

“We had no choice,” said Robert H. Osher, MD, course director and professor of Ophthalmology, University of Cincinnati. He also is medical director emeritus of the Cincinnati Eye Institute and editor of the Video Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. “Every seat was taken and we had difficulty fitting 500 ophthalmologists and more than 100 exhibitors into the limited number of hotels available in Sarasota.”

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Dr. Osher started the meeting out of a frustration with the limits on what information can be shared at events that offer continuing medical education (CME) credits. This meeting provides honest, intense clinical information in an innovative and entertaining format, he said, but no CME credits.

“It is no surprise that we have sold out each of our previous meetings given an All-Star faculty providing the highest quality uncensored education at an affordable price,” he said. “Despite all of our growth, though, the meeting is still small enough to allow attendees to have up-close interaction with the faculty, all of whom are approachable and talk from the heart. They frequently stay after sessions to continue the dialogue, and enjoy talking with attendees at the meals and after-hours events as well.”

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The 2016 conference will be held Jan. 13 to 17 at the Naples Grande Resort. The fee is $625 for physicians who register by Dec. 15, and $675 if registering after Dec. 15 or onsite. A discounted rate is available for residents and fellows. The registration fee includes all general sessions, tutorials, exhibits, New Technology Symposium, and many meals. A neurology program and wet labs are available for an additional fee.

Rooms at the Naples Grand Resort are already fully booked but several nearby hotels, most with lower rates, still have space available.

Program overview

Program overview

Dr. Osher said the general meeting format involves video symposia in the morning, wet labs and tutorials in the afternoon, and interactive sessions in the evening.

“Morning topics include challenging cases, complication management, selecting IOLs in difficult situations, and several wonderful keynote lectures, including one by Binkhorst Award recipient and ASCRS Grand Prize winner, Dr. Abhay Vasavada of India. George Waring IV, MD, will give a memorial lecture celebrating the magnificent career of his father, who passed away in January. It will be inspirational,” Dr. Osher said.

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Twenty-three wet labs will be offered in the afternoons. Attendees can learn to perform anterior vitrectomy through the pars plana, reconstruct iris defects by pupillary cerclage or prosthetic iris devices, use new intracameral devices for challenging cases, or attend a variety of hands-on skill and didactic sessions.

The evening sessions will include the best international videos that Dr. Osher has selected from the Video Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, a risk management session, an overview of essential business principles, and a new session with young ophthalmic “stars.”

“I anticipate that I will be serving beer and pretzels to hundreds of ophthalmologists at 11 p.m.,” Dr. Osher said.

Details

New this year is the Neuro-Ophthalmology Update the day before the meeting, on Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 13), led by Jeffrey Odel, MD, Steven Newman, MD, and Donald Hood, PhD.

Thursday morning (Jan. 14) brings additional subspecialty opportunities:

-Corneal Disease and Cataract Surgery with Deepinder Dhaliwal, MD

-Medical and Surgical Glaucoma with Ike Ahmed, MD, Steve Vold, MD, and Anup Khatana, MD

-Retinal Update with Dan Miller, MD, PhD; Chris Riemann, MD; and James Osher, MD (Dr. Osher’s son)

Thursday and Friday programs

The meeting officially kicks off Thursday afternoon. Highlights include the “showdown” events for which the meeting is known. “Showdowns allow the attendee to see head-to-head-to-head presentations by surgeons who use different technologies in the same category,” Dr. Osher said.

These include a new technology showdown, a biometry showdown, a microscope showdown, a phaco machine showdown, toric IOL showdown, and presbyopia-correcting IOL showdown.

The afternoon wraps up with “Femtomania: Caution vs. Conviction,” an event which Dr. Osher said he thinks will be particularly interesting. “It will present a balanced picture on the state of the art for femto – positive and negative,” he explained.

Following a sponsored dinner, the Ophthalmic Mutual Insurance Company will offer “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: OMIC’s Top Ten Cataract Claims.” Ophthalmologists can have their malpractice insurance premiums lowered as a result of attending.

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Friday, Jan. 15, kicks off with “Intracameral Devices” with Dr. Ahmed and Richard Mackool, MD. After a sponsored breakfast, the morning lineup includes:

-My Routine Case - Senior Faculty

-Symposium: Challenging Cases - Michael Snyder, MD, and Dr. Ahmed

-The Waring Memorial Lecture, “Refractive Lens Surgery” - Dr. Waring

In the afternoon, the following wet labs will be offered (pre-registration is required): Intraocular Devices, Anterior Vitrectomy, MIGS, IOL Calculations, Toric Alignment, Retinal OCT Interpretation, Technology for MGD, ThermoDot, Aberrometry, and Phakic IOL.

Friday evening will include “3D Surgery Symposium” with Robert Weinstock, MD, and Dr. Ahmed, and “The All-Important External Segment” with John Sheppard, MD. The dinner symposium is “Peri-operative Medications,” which will review the pros and cons of every medication that can be used during cataract surgery.

Starting at 9 p.m., will be “Late Night with the Young Stars,” including Drs. Farrell “Toby” Tyson, Cathy McCabe, Jonathan Solomon, Keith Walter, Waring, Weinstock, Mackool, and James Osher.

Saturday and Sunday programs

Saturday, Jan. 16, begins with “Oops Vitrectomy!” with Lisa Arbisser, MD, Dr. Vasavada, Dr. Riemann, and Dr. James Osher. After a sponsored breakfast event, Dr. Robert Osher will host “Complication Management,” followed by “Posterior Capsulorhexis,” with Drs. Arbisser, Snyder, and Vasavada. “Small Pupil Options” with Dr. Robert Osher is next, followed by a lecture by Dr. Vasavada, International Guest of Honor.

Saturday afternoon wet labs include Advanced Suturing, Anterior Vitrectomy, Toric IOLs & Topography, MIGS, Iris, ReSure Sealant, Reconstruction, YAG Vitreolysis, Technology for Ocular Surface, IOL Calculation after Refractive Surgery, and ClearPath for Diabetes.

Late afternoon brings symposia on “In Pursuit of Emmetropia,” “Toric Alignment Technology,” “Pre and Intraoperative Aberrometry,” “The Posterior Cornea ‒ Missing Link?” and “IOL Repositioning and Exchange.”

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The Young Ophthalmologists Symposium will follow, then a sponsored dinner. The evening brings “Economics of Omidria,” and, at 9 p.m., “Saturday Night Live: Critical Practice Management” with John Pinto and Larry Patterson, MD.

Sunday, Jan. 17, bring “IOL Selections and Clinical Decisions” with Dr. Hill, “Lessons We’ve Learned” with the faculty, “Refractive and other Surprises” with Dr. Mackool, and a brief final video with Dr. Robert Osher. It adjourns at 11 a.m.

The meeting is sponsored by the Video Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery and the University of Cincinnati Department of Ophthalmology. The American Academy of Ophthalmology organizes the meeting. For more information, visit www.cstellingitlikeitis.com.