No pix
Sadly, we’re not allowed to take pictures anywhere at all at ARVO.
Like they drill it into you so aggressively that I’m wondering if they mind me photographing the sky above the building.
I mean, I understand it in the poster sessions, but in presentations too? Sheesh. Ah well. Getting more efficient about taking notes in Google docs on my phone.
Posters, posters and more posters!
Wavefront guided scleral lenses: This is in my personal future so I was interested. University of Houston College of Optometry. Talks about how sclerals tend to decenter inferotemporally and they have to adjust for this case-by-case. They want to reduce design complexity so the study was aimed at simulating optical and visual performance degradation. (Note to self - does lens size play a role?)
Antibiotic resistance: Update from ARMOR study - comparable to 2017 results.
Neuro stuff, dendritic cells… lost count of all the posters on this.
Tacrolimus: Talked about the use of this in ocular surface disease. 0.1% tacrolimus ointment in a number of severe disease applications including limbal stem cell deficiency. Effective for inflammation but caused surface irritation.
Depression alert… SSRIs and dry eye! Study from Fudan University… very interesting. They looked at 20 and also rats. Need to get hold of the authors and come back to this one.
Rusiteganib: Just saw something in the news about this the other day but nothing in that press release about actual results. Hoping to circle back.
Anxiety alert: Keio University. Effects of topical dry eye treatment on anxiety related behavior in mouse dry eye model. “We have advocated a vicious cycle of environmental stress, dry eye and depression as a hypothesis”. Concl: “current study revealed that topical dry eye treatment may improve anxiety related behavior”. In this study, they used rebamipide (WHICH WE DONT HAVE in the US which is really annoying!)
VivaVision biopharma, Shanghai, VVN001 “Potentially better efficacy and safety profile than lifitegrast”. Mmm sure.
Trehalose: Two posters on this, slightly different conclusions… both looking at the combo trehalose + HLA (Thealoz Duo). 2nd one indicated symptomatic relief but not protective effect in adverse environment. 1st one indicated osmoprotective benefits.
Drop turns to gel? Wakamotob pharmaceutical, AT-1401 thermoresponsive artificial tear. Designed to last longer by gelling on the eye surface. Hm.
Systane Complete: Showing it supposedly better than Refresh Optive and B&L Soothe. You know what? Ditch the friggin’ preservative, please.
Dry spots interfering with pressure measurements? Paper showing both under and overestimated intraocular pressure with certain instruments depending on whether SPK was present.
PROSE “Plus”? Mass Eye & Ear - use of bevacizumab in PROSE devices to treat neovascularization… exciting!
Then I got lost in a sea of Keratoconus posters.
Then I moved on to the exhibits.
Preservative-free multi-dose: Connected with a vendor, Nemera, who make preservative-free multi-dose packaging for drops and who were interested in what I had to say about the need for both OTC and Rx drugs in preservative-free options in the US… The conversations made it even clearer to me what a steeply uphill process it will be to get PF drops on the US market, but raising awareness of this need is a key priority for the Dry Eye Foundation.
Speaking of which: I also connected with an international network of glaucoma associations. They have just recently decided to possibly start allowing patient organizations to join their network. Think of being able to team up with glaucoma organizations on raising awareness of the need for preservative-free glaucoma medications!
I’m down to 12%. How is it I thought my battery would last out the day? Hm.