Dear Patients
I have just returned from trekking another two sections of the Camino de Santiago from Porto in Portugal to Tui in Spain. We walked from the border of Portugal and Spain and then onto the Santiago de Santiago. It was an amazing trek with three great friends and we walked more than 240 kilometres, averaging approximately 19km each day.
Pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago trek the walk in different sections, from many directions and for varied reasons. For me, there were three reasons.
Firstly, three years ago we trekked part of the Camino de Santiago as a group of five. We tragically lost one of our group, a very dear friend, to a car accident last year. At the time we were planning this year’s pilgrimage.
Secondly, our friendship as a group is a strong bond that grows ever stronger with every trek.
Thirdly, trekking provides me with an ideal opportunity to think, reflect and plan my strategies for life, family, work – and importantly, a balanced life. I am fortunate that one of my trekking colleagues is terrific mentor for me and has helped me in my continual life journey with great support and advice
As a part of our new Ezekiel Eyes website, we have introduced a blog (“Eyes on the World”) where I encourage patients to post information about successful treks, recipes, restaurants, tours, hotels, etc.
While I was in Europe, Kai attended the International Contact Lens Conference at the Gold Coast and the Super Sunday Optometry Conference in Sydney. His highlights are below.
I recently returned from attending two conferences – the International Cornea and Contact Lens Congress held on the sunny Gold Coast, and Super Sunday in Sydney.
A range of topics, from dry eye to orthokeratology design and myopia control, and the effects of contact lens wear on the eyes were delivered, both from research and clinical perspectives. The dry eye arena is just getting more exciting, with in-office procedures and products now available that have been proven to manage different types of dry eye. In-office dry eye management procedures are akin to your regular dental check up, except the procedure is performed on the eye. This was shown to improve the symptoms. The Blephasteam treatment, in conjunction with lid debridement, was shown to improve the tear film stability and appearance of the eyelids in specific groups of dry eye subjects.
The other topic of great interest was the use of contact lens and myopia control. There is very strong evidence to show that orthokeratology supersedes other modalities of optical correction when it comes to dealing with a patient with progressive myopia. Studies have shown close to 50% retardation in myopia progression in subjects who use orthokeratology lenses, compared to subjects who are corrected either by regular spectacles or contact lenses.
If you would like to know more about dry eye management and/or myopia control with contact lenses, I am more than happy to have a chat with you.
Cheers
Damon