“COVID-19 cannot prevent us from sharing important knowledge about oculofacical plastic surgery”, says Dr. Dion Paridaens, the ELZA Institute’s Consultant Oculofacial plastic surgeon.
Dr. Paridaens was presenting at the 3rd Challenging Cases in Oculofacial Plastic Surgery Webinar, jointly run by the European Society of Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery (ESOPRS) and the Asia Pacific Society of Ophthalmic Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery (APSOPRS), with the title of the conference being “Hot Points in Hot Orbits”.
World-leading orbit specialists across both continents shared their most challenging orbit cases, which were then discussed by a panel of expert orbital specialists and invited specialists from the fields of radiology, rheumatology and infectious disease. The cases were divided into sections that spanned the specific causes of orbital inflammation, including thyroid eye disease, Erdheim-Chester disease, Wegener’s granulomatosis, non-specific causes of orbital inflammation; disorders that mimic the presentation of myasthenia gravis and lymphoma, and orbital infection. Over 1,000 colleagues attended the session. Dion was one of the expert panel discussants as well as a presenter.
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Dion Paridaens spoke about a rare cause of orbital infection (actinomycosis) in his presentation entitled “The Perfect Storm”. This is an incredibly rare infection, caused by a Gram-positive filamentous bacteria called Actinomyces, that more commonly occurs after tooth extraction, and chronic steroid use is the other major predisposing factor, and the first signs of infection are ophthalmoparesis (a weakness or paralysis of the muscles that cause eye movement, ptosis (drooping of the eyelid), proprosis (an abnormal protrusion of the eyes) and vision loss.
This excellent session, which lasted for three hours, was capably organised by Dr. Gangadhara Sundar, Dr. Farzad Pakdel, and the Presidents of the APSOPRS, Dr. Li Dongmei, and ESOPRS, Dr. Francesco Leoni, and Dr. Paridaens wishes to extend special thanks to the organisers, presenters, moderators and discussants for making the 3rd Challenging Cases in Oculofacial Plastic Surgery Webinar such an excellent and informative session.
