Global audience tunes in for virtual BCLA conference

Professor Phillip Morgan, Professor James Wolffsohn, Luke Stevens-Burt and Indie Grewal at a filming session for the conference

Eyecare professionals from around the world participated in 30 hours of live-streamed lectures as part of an innovative virtual clinical conference and exhibition held by the British Contact Lens Association (BCLA) on 13 and 14 June.

The conference programme was accessible to some 1,000 delegates from 50 different countries across multiple time zones, and was dominated by the BCLA Contact Lens Evidence-based Academic Reports (CLEAR) – a research project sponsored by Alcon and CooperVision which is expected to shape the future of contact lens practice.

The report’s lead authors presented their findings during the conference, sharing the latest information in the field and highlighting potential opportunities for future research.

Luke Stevens-Burt, chief executive of the BCLA, said: “Attempting to get all the BCLA CLEAR lead authors to present their findings as part of our packed programme was ambitious to say the least, but has really brought this extensive piece of research to life. It has enabled us to bring BCLA CLEAR to every single nation, benefitting both practitioners and patients around the world.”

The report was published in April in the BCLA’s Contact Lens & Anterior Eye journal and is available as open access through the Elsevier website.

The conference also saw the BCLA award lectures. Marta Blanco-Vazquez, a PhD student at IOBA, University of Valladolid, received the Da Vinci Award and presented her session on corneal nerve plexus in patients suffering from chronic ocular pain and dry eye disease. Associate professor Stephen Vincent from Queensland University of Technology was presented with the Dallos Award following his session titled, ‘Impact of short-term fenestrated scleral lens wear on intraocular pressure’. Dr Orla Murphy, assistant lecturer at Technological University Dublin, presented the Irving Fatt Memorial Lecture on ‘Demodex blepharitis: detection and management in clinical practice’.

BCLA president, Indie Grewal, who staged a live ortho-k fitting as part of the event, said: “This year’s programme was arguably our most comprehensive yet, covering practically every conceivable subject area within contact lenses and the anterior eye. The findings of BCLA CLEAR will determine how we practice for years to come so to have access to this information at such an early stage will stand all our delegates in good stead as we begin to adopt the recommendations contained in the research.”

The conference also featured the BCLA awards. Dr Keyur Patel was named Dry Eye Practitioner of the Year, Sabrina Sheik picked up the award for Young Contact Lens Practitioner of the Year, while John Pruitt and Erich Bauman from Alcon won the Industry Award.

Andrew Jelly, Jonathan Jackson, Joanne Logan won the award for best poster, while Marco Tovaglia was named the winner of the Diane Gould Photography Competition.

Delegates also took part in an interactive quiz held via a mobile phone app and responded to live polls during lectures and presentations, while an exclusive session brought together new and existing BCLA Fellows.