The skies opened up at ESCRS 2024 for Day 3 with downpours dominating the Barcelona cityscape. But inside the Fira de Barcelona (Gran Via) convention center, nothing could dampen the spirits of delegates and attendees.
The rain was steady throughout the day, but the ophthalmic action was steadier as the 42nd Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS 2024) continued through its third round.
Sunny skies prevailed just as the day’s sessions began to wind down, but that didn’t save those attendees who needed to head for the exits early—your correspondent included—from getting soaked on the way to the taxi line.
Fortunately, all of this time dripping dry while waiting in an unusually cutthroat cab queue was perfect for reflecting on the conference’s happenings at its halfway point. While the list of topics covered have been wide ranging as ever, ESCRS 2024’s—and by extension, the cataract world’s—hottest trends of the year have begun to present themselves. And if you weren’t here to soak it all in (last rain pun, we promise), we’ve got you covered, as usual, with our daily conference coverage.
Morning madness
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed delegates were more numerous than normal, with hordes of the anterior segment-hungry having their pick of a wide breadth of sessions. Educational content dominated the AM docket, with offerings ranging from the usual wetlabs to instructional courses and surgical pearls in trauma, complex cataract, cornea and more.
Our morning highlight session, however, covered one of the Congress’ dominant topics—the rise of presbyopia-correcting IOLs.
Chaired by Profs. Oliver Findl (Austria) and Joaquín Fernández (Spain), the sessions presentations and topics revolved around the practical aspects of IOL selection, power calculation and integrating the latest presbyopia-correcting IOLs into your practice. There was a lot to learn in the session that can have an immediate impact on your cataract practice, so be sure to check out our write up on that one.
Mid and late-day sessions with impact
The rain began to pick up in the afternoon, but the soothing pitter-patter of raindrops on the exhibition hall ceiling was drowned out by the dull roar of delegates and industry whooping it up in Halls 6 and 7 of the Fira de Barcelona convention center.
One lap through the exhibition hall before the lunchtime session was enough to know that industry was also popping off. From Dr. Ike Ahmed’s raucous, selfie-filled birthday celebration at the Nova Eye booth to navigating the crowds (and, thanks to a roof leak, puddles) lining up at the Rayner booth to see their new spiral Galaxy IOL, there was plenty of innovation out there to go around. Make sure to check out our Day 1 wrap-up for more debutante tech news from the likes of ZEISS, Alcon, Haag-Streit and more.
With ears ringing, it was time for the lunch break sessions. Another BOSS session, an initiative from ESCRS President Prof. Filomena Ribeiro to promote diversity, inclusion and opportunity for all in the eye care world, was on offer. An all-star line-up of doctors including Tanya Trinh (Australia) and Julie Schallhorn (USA) presented on how to combat undercurrents of unconscious gender bias in the eye care world. We covered one such BOSS session on artificial intelligence in our Day 2 coverage, and you don’t want to miss that.
Our midday highlight session was on another conference trending topic—the future of corneal refractive surgery. With innovations in the space and the inexorable rise of phakic lenses in the refractive space, this is can’t-miss content—so head over give that a read to find out what’s going on there.
Gripping JCRS symposium brings it home
Things rolled on to the afternoon, with the morning energy still sizzling through the day’s late-breaking sessions.
One major event that we’re still waiting for developments on is the ESCRS film awards. Can Dr. Santaro Noguchi (Japan)’s artificial capsular bag take its third major ophthalmic conference grand prize of 2024? We’ll get back to you on that, but in the meantime be sure to learn about the genesis of Dr. Noguchi’s marvel of eye care engineering here.
It’s hard to say that we like to leave the best for last, but you wouldn’t be remiss to get as excited as we are about our final highlight session, a JCRS symposium chaired by ESCRS Treasurer Prof. Thomas Kohnen and Dr. Liliana Werner (USA).
Some of the most recognizable names in eye care presented on topics near and dear to them, including Drs. Shin Yamane (Japan), Cathleen McCabe (USA) and Eric Mertens (Belgium). So before you shut that laptop and head out to Day 4 (or wherever you’re going today), give that a look and see what the elite of world ophthalmology are talking about.
Editor’s Note: Reporting for this story took place at the 42nd Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ESCRS 2024), held from 6-10 September in Barcelona, Spain.
