London welcomes ESCRS annual congress attendees

London-The XXIV Annual Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) is scheduled to begin Saturday, Sept. 9 and continue until Wednesday, Sept. 13 in this cosmopolitan capital on the Thames River. Most of the symposia and courses will be held at the ExCel London International Exhibition and Conference Center, London.

This forum is devoted exclusively to the latest findings in cataract and refractive surgery. Attendees will have the opportunity to be brought up to date during poster and paper presentations, symposia, training courses, surgical skills courses, and a video competition. In addition, the exhibition floor will allow attendees to view the latest in technologic innovations.

Opening activities

A highlight of the opening day on Saturday is always the Clinical Research Symposia. Attendees can chose among the following topics:

The Young Ophthalmologist Program is another main feature that is scheduled for Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Both cataract and refractive topics are covered. The cataract segment includes preparation, preoperative complications, special cases, and video presentations. The refractive segment offers presentations on LASIK versus PRK, Epi-LASIK, LASEK, iris-fixated anterior chamber IOLs, and video presentations. The guest lecturer Robert Stegmann, MD, from South Africa, will deliver the presentation, "Experience in managing perforating eye injuries."

Congress highlights

Another highlight on Monday is the presentation of The Ridley Medal. Peter Barry, MD, of Ireland will present the lecture entitled "The ESCRS endophthalmitis study and results."

The Satellite Education Program begins on Friday, Sept. 8, with a presentation on wavefront that is followed by the welcome reception at the Science Museum. All presentations in this program are scheduled to run from 6 to 8 p.m., except for the presentation on Monday, which is scheduled for 1 to 2 p.m. and includes a box lunch.

On Saturday, the Satellite Education Program offers a presentation on innovations in ophthalmology at the conference center. On Sunday, the topic is innovative cataract and refractive applications at Cabot Hall, Cabot Place, Canary Wharf, London. Finally, on Monday, the symposia, which will be presented at the conference center, will cover selective laser trabeculoplasty: when to use it and why, the future of refractive surgery, and Scheimpflug-based anterior segment tomography.

Main symposia

The main symposia are popular educational highlights that span 4 days of the conference. All symposia run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Topics and days are as follows: