Today saw the 2022 annual meeting of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS 2022) start in spectacular fashion – in the fashionable city of Milan.
The ELZA team of surgeons and researchers were all in attendance, and today saw Prof. Hafezi give the attending delegates a lecture on “How to treat thin corneas”, where he examined the history of performing corneal cross-linking (CXL) for the treatment of corneal ectasias like keratoconus. He then brought delegates up-to-date on the research that has been performed over the years to improve how thin corneas are cross-linked. Finally, Prof. Hafezi demonstrated the results of the latest thin cornea cross-linking protocol, sub400, developed by ELAZA, which simplifies the process, and can let surgeons, for the first time, cross-link corneas that are as thin as 200 µm.
Prof. Hafezi and colleagues’ poster “Bilateral Keratoconus In A Patient With Confirmed Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum” was also presented today, in the on-demand poster area of the MiCo (Milan Congress Centre). This is the first description of both diseases being present in a person – but since both diseases are disorders of collagen structure in the eye, it may be that both diseases are linked. This suggests that ophthalmologists, if they find one pathology, should look for the other, and perhaps also that this will not be the first observation of this phenomenon.
The ELZA team then moved swiftly to the Keratoconus Experts’ Meeting at the Humanitas Hospital, San Pio X, where the leading figures from around the world gathered, to present our research and engage in discussions that could shape the practice of keratoconus management in the future.
