2019 BCLA Pioneers Lecturer revealed

Professor Michael Guillon delivering the 2017 BCLA Medal Address

Professor Michel Guillon will deliver the 2019 British Contact Lens Association (BCLA) Pioneers Lecture in London on 26 November.

A highlight of the annual BCLA Pioneers & Visionaries Conference, Professor Guillon’s Pioneers Lecture is titled, ‘Understanding contact lens discomfort’.

Honorary professor in the School of Life and Health Sciences at Aston University, Professor Guillon said: “Contact lens discomfort [CLD] is the major problem associated with contact lens wear. It leads to a substantial reduction in the benefits of using contact lenses as a vision correction modality for many wearers and is the leading cause of contact lens discontinuation. This lecture will critically review questionnaires used to determine CLD and demonstrate that CLD symptomatology is unlike dry eye symptomatology without contact lenses.

”It will identify the ocular and contact lens related factors influencing CLD and produce supporting evidence that the key to managing individual patients’ CLD is not simply quantifying CLD overall severity but characterising its occurrence, associations and consequence, with a view to establishing the unique CLD profile of individual patients upon which to develop a personalised management programme for an impactful clinical outcome.”

BCLA president, Jonathon Bench, said: “This year’s programme has been shaped by BCLA members. Suggestions put forward as part of the ‘Members: you decide’ survey have been incorporated into the programme, including a series of shorter presentations as part of a wider discussion. It promises to be an exciting, vibrant conference full of up-to-the-minute thinking around some of the biggest issues in contact lenses and the anterior eye.”

Sessions will cover ‘Is ortho-k for myopia correction or myopia control?’ and ‘Is there a place for mini sclerals?’, while a dry eye management session will discuss NHS changes to dry eye product prescriptions and how this will affect patients. The day will close with a glimpse into the future as Reena Chopra from Moorfields, along with others, examine the role of artificial intelligence and anterior segment grading.

The event will also feature an exhibition showcasing the very latest technology, and takes place at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.

Register here.