EyeCon 2023: 2 days of education for optometrists, ophthalmologists

This year's meeting will be held December 1 to 2, 2023, in Sanibel Harbour, Florida. (Adobe Stock / William)

EyeCon is a unique meeting experience combining optometry and ophthalmology tracks, with presentations and educational opportunities on the hottest topics in eye care. It will be held December 1 to 2, 2023, in Sanibel Harbour, Florida. Optometry Times spoke with Kelly Nichols, OD, PhD, MPH, FAAO; and Paul Chous, OD, MA, FAAO, the cochairs of EyeCon, to get a comprehensive overview on what to expect and what to be excited for during this meeting.

Can you tell us a little bit about EyeCon? What makes it special?

Paul Chous, OD, MA, FAAO:

One of the things that distinguishes our meeting is that it’s a joint meeting of optometry and ophthalmology. We have 2 tracks going on this year. The idea is to let attendees switch back and forth between the different tracks so optometrists could go into the ophthalmology track and vice versa, depending on specific talks, whichever interests them the most. But it’s great that we’re all meeting in this collegial fashion. You know, we’ve got common industry partners. That just is something that distinguishes it from many of the other eye care meetings that we’re all familiar with.

What are you most excited about for this year’s meeting?

Kelly Nichols, OD, PhD, MPH, FAAO:

It’s exciting because the panel that we have are truly experts in these topic areas but coming at it from a slightly different angle. So, it’ll be just fully versed, and hopefully the conversation will be very good. This meeting is set up so that there’s some conversation. Actually, there’s some lecture that’s done in an interactive way. Then there’s a lot of panel discussion and Q&A that happens. I think that’s where the best knowledge is really given to the audience because they can ask questions about how’s it really done, and what you think the direction is for the future. It’s an interactive atmosphere as well, which is always nice and makes it interesting.

Chous:

One thing is that the preeminent myopia control researcher in the whole world, Mark Bullimore, [PhD,] is going to be speaking. We’re going to have multiple other symposia on topics ranging from updates in OCT [optical coherence tomography] imaging, updates on neurotrophic keratitis, dry eye, retinal disease management, and the like. Day 2 is the optometry track. I’m personally excited about a talk I’m giving with Mark Dunbar [,OD,] from Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and my dear friend and great speaker, Jeff Gerson [,OD,] from Kansas City, [Missouri,] on retinal disease comanagement. We’ve got some other great topics that day. Kelly Nichols, dry eye expert extraordinaire, will be doing a dry eye panel. We’ve got Kelly Malloy [,OD], who’s a neuro-optometry, neuro-ophthalmology guru, [who is] going to have another panel on neuro-ophthalmic disease.

Do you have anything else you’d like to share about EyeCon?

Nichols:

Again, we’re going to come at it from a blended approach so that any of the attendees could join either of the tracks or any of the lectures and get something out of them. And, who can say anything bad about the location of this meeting in December? Everybody wants a little bit of sun in Florida. We’re looking forward to being in Florida again, so, of course, that’s a highlight.

Chous:

I really want to encourage people to attend. I really would love to see as many people as possible at our meeting. We’re getting a lot of sponsorship involved. There are going to be [many] great companies. It’s an opportunity to network with your colleagues in both optometry and ophthalmology.

To learn more about the meeting and register, visit PER's website here.