CIME 2024: Neda Shamie, MD, recaps a morning session packed with refractive surgery options, retina, glaucoma, and a 'mite-y' Demodex discussion

Neda Shamie, MD, summarized the morning session of the Controversies in Modern Eye Care conference, focusing on developments in refractive surgery and alternative procedures, as well as the latest treatments for conditions like Demodex blepharitis. The conference, held on May 4, 2024, in Los Angeles, also included sessions on retina and glaucoma. Shamie is one of the program co-chairs, alongside Arjan Hura, MD, for the 18th annual event.

Video Transcript

Editor's note - This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Neda Shamie, MD:

Hi, everyone! My name is Neda Shamie. I'm a cornea, refractive, and cataract surgeon here in Los Angeles at the Maloney-Shamie Vision Institute. I'm one of the two program directors together with Dr. Arjan Hura of the Controversies in Modern Eye Care [conference] that's being held today in Los Angeles, actually at the Studio City Universal Studios Hilton.

It's been a wonderful, wonderful meeting thus far. We just had our morning session. We're breaking for lunch right now. This is our 18th annual meeting. The morning highlights Dr. Hura and I both presented together on refractive surgical options focusing on all of the different options available to patients who are seeking freedom from glasses and contact lenses if they have myopia. We talked about the benefits of LASIK, more advanced LASIK, and taking advantage of systems such as the iDesign refractive studio, which basically involves diagnostics that really assess more than 1200 spots of the cornea and the optical system for the most customized treatment profile for each patient.

Then we went on to talk about the EVO ICL as an alternative to corneal-based refractive procedures for those who are not candidates for LASIK or PRK, as well as those who are candidates but are seeking a more reversible procedure, one that doesn't change the anatomy of the eye.

And then we finished to talk about potentials for lenticular procedures such as SMILE, and more specifically SMILE Pro, which is on the very, very upcoming horizon that we at the Maloney-Shamie Vision Institute are excited to bring hopefully to our patients soon enough.

Then I was comoderating a session on Demodex blepharitis together with Drs. Marc Bloomenstein and Jim Katz. It was a really 'mite-y' session talking about mites that can grow on our lashes and what kind of inflammation and problems they can cause of the ocular surface. More importantly, what treatments we have including the newest kind of the only treatment available in Xdemvy, which has been shown to be highly efficacious in treating Demodex blepharitis.

There's been a lot of other sessions. There was a fantastic session on retina talking about diabetic retinopathy that was beautifully run. It was one of the most well-done retina sessions I've ever been a part of it as an anterior segment surgeon. I paid attention quite a lot and learned a lot. Another wonderful session about glaucoma that was really looking at cases and such.

So far it's been a really rich morning and we're excited to move on to the afternoon and talk a little bit more about everything related to eye care.