Australian duo Dr Kate Gifford and Professor Fiona Stapleton made a splash at the recent Global Specialty Lens Symposium in Las Vegas, taking to the stage and featuring among the award recipients.
They were the only Australian speakers for the event (15-18 January 2025), with Dr Gifford part of a plenary lecture session on ‘Myth vs reality: emerging technologies in myopia control’ with experts from Canada and the US.
The discussion centred on the premise of specialty contact lens design for myopia management, which has long been built upon the pivotal discovery and development of the ‘peripheral hyperopic defocus’ theory.
While it represents the current foundation of understanding myopia development, many unknowns remain, they argued.
Alongside Professor David Berntsen, University of Houston, and Professor Langis Michaud, University of Montreal, Canada, Gifford explored defocus theory, the new contrast theory and pharmacological theories of myopia progression and control, and how they interact.
Dr Kevin Chan, optometrist from Virginia, US, moderated the panel discussion, which then considered applications in current and future myopia care.
At the event, Dr Gifford was also presented The Rising Star Award.
Established in 2023, it recognises an emerging leader in the field of cornea and contact lenses. The awardee must demonstrate substantial contributions to the field, outside of what might normally be expected in this early phase of one’s career.
Meanwhile, Prof Stapleton gave a keynote on ‘25 years of silicone hydrogels – what did we learn in specialty lenses?’.
In her presentation, she said that dryness and discomfort continued to be the major driving force behind contact lens dissatisfaction and dropout. And despite tremendous developments in contact lens materials and care systems over the past 50 years, many patients still struggle to find long-lasting comfort with their lenses.
With silicone hydrogel materials commercialised 25 years ago, they now account for almost 80% of all new lenses fit.
However, she said that silicone-based materials have bulk and surface properties that are substantially different to conventional hydrogels, delving into comparison between deposition patterns, wettability, uptake and release of preservatives and mechanical properties.
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