Sunday, October 25, 2009

AAO-PAAO joint meeting is big draw for industry


The success of an international ophthalmological meeting can be gauged not only by the strength and depth of the scientific presentations but also by the number of industry exhibitors who take space in the exhibition hall.

The popularity of this year's AAO meeting can be gauged by the fact that the exhibition is spread over three venues in Moscone North, South and West where over 400 companies are showcasing their latest products and ideas.

Among them are Abbott Medical Optics, Alcon, Canon, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Croma, DORC, Haag Streit, Nidek, Oculus, Opko, Oertli and Rayner.

Make sure to try and pay a visit to all of the exhibitors, including the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons whose booth is in Moscone North N4046.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Early birds


For many attendees the meeting starts before the meeting starts, in a manner of speaking. That is to say, the subspecialty sessions begin in advance of the general conference, offering a smorgasbord of debate and didactic material in the areas of refractive surgery, retina, glaucoma, and paediatrics. Your EuroTimes reporter spent most of the time camping at the refractive subspecialty day sessions. This consisted of two full days of lectures and debates covering all aspects of the field. The sessions provided a great overview of current debates in many controversial areas including paediatric refractive surgery, refractive surgery on keratoconus suspect eyes, problems with multifocal IOLs, femtosecond laser approaches to cataract surgery, intrastromal implants, and the latest info on collagen cross-linking.

Did you wash your hands?


H1N1 precautions are in effect, as conventions are an ideal germ-sharing opportunity.

Sunny and warm


Attendees at this year’s AAO might be forgiven for missing a session or two to grab some rays outside, as the city experiences near tropical weather, blues skies and 25° C. Add to that the many popular tourist activities, the cable car to Fishermen’s wharf, shopping at Union Square, dim sum in Chinatown, bay cruises, it is no surprise that SF continues to be a favourite convention destination for people from around the world.

This weekend alone, visitors have endless nightlife opportunities as well. Whatever your musical tastes, you can hear opera,the Black Eyed Peas, David Sanborn on sax, Neil Young at a fundraiser, and blues great John Lee Hooker laying it down.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Challenging times for ophthalmologists in San Francisco


EuroTimes will be reporting from the 2009 joint meeting of AAO/PAAO in San Francisco from Friday October 23 to Tuesday October 27.

As you can see from our picture (taken outside the Moscone Convention Centre on the corner of Howard and 3rd) the sun is splitting the stones but that won't deter delegates from attending a packed schedule of lectures and instructional courses.

Meeting highlights will be reported in the December/January and February issues of the magazine and also on our website at www.eurotimes.org in our Breaking News section.

This has been a difficult time for some ophthalmologists who are facing increasing pressure in the face of the global economic recession.

One of the highlights of this year's AAO/PAAO session will be the Practice Management programme which will help advise doctors, practice managers and other practice partners on how they can tackle some of the financial challenges they are facing and will continue to face in the future.

As always, however, the major focus will be on how ophthalmologists can improve their clinical services and patient care and this meeting promises to offer many new insights into new techniques and new technologies.