EyeCon 2024: Staying in the know by keeping it contemporary

With EyeCon quickly approaching, Ben Casella, OD, FAAO, gives insight into what you can't miss at this year's meeting, running from September 27-28 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

To learn more about or to register for EyeCon 2024, click here.

Video Transcript:

Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Jordana Joy:

Hi everyone. I'm here today with Dr. Ben Casella, who will be giving an overview of what's new and exciting at this year's EyeCon, which will be held from September 27-28 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. So welcome. It's a pleasure to have you here today.

Ben Casella, OD, FAAO:

Hey, nice to see you. Thanks for having me.

Joy:

Awesome. Yeah, always a pleasure. So first, what can attendees expect from this year's EyeCon? What have we got going on?

Casella:

First of all, EyeCon has some really exciting surprises in store. There are some marquee symposia. If you just look on the website and you see the faculty that we have, not including myself of course, it's going to be great for ODs. It's going to be great for MDs. But there's a lot of new stuff now that we're sort of getting through, hopefully, the bulk of the whole COVID push. You know, research never stopped. It never stopped the whole time and there's new things that are germane to glaucoma, there's new things that are germane to dry eye, ocular surface disease, which optometry, you know, essentially owns at this point. And I'm looking forward to being in the south of Florida. You know, I'm way up in the north of Georgia. I'm still down south, but the red sauce is better in the south of Florida.

Joy:

I would agree with you on that one. So you are also going to be giving a presentation entitled, "Rapid Fire: Breaking Research/Clinical Updates." Could you give a little bit of a preview into that and who you're going to be working with?

Casella:

Yeah. I don't want to give too much away, but I will be with my good friends, Paul Chous and Kelly Nichols, who, every time I lecture with them, they always lift me up. And I feel like it's kind of like when you play golf with somebody better than you, you play up to their level, and I'm just really thrilled to be sharing the stage with them. I believe we're going to touch on diabetes, I know we're going to touch on glaucoma, I believe we're going to touch on ocular surface disease, but it's all going to be contemporary research, things that are new, things that have not been here before, but also keeping with the Optometry Times, Ophthalmology Times mantra, "Practical Chair Side Advice," things that are tangible, things that are clinical, things that we can incorporate into our practices when we get back to work on Monday. So I'm excited about it. It's gonna be great.

Joy:

Absolutely. So what presentations outside of your own are you most looking forward to attending at EyeCon? What's really catching your eye?

Casella:

Everything glaucoma that I can. I can never see enough glaucoma presentations. I was going to say it's a beast of a disease, but it's a beast of a family of diseases. There are many glaucoma there's not just the one. I'm always, always excited to learn more in the arena of glaucoma, because, of course, I write the glaucoma column, and I feel like if I absorb as much didactically as I can with respect to that disease, then maybe I'll forget things at a slower rate. And I'm also excited to see, Paul's got some other courses. Kelly's got some other presentations, my 2 coinstructors, and I'm excited to sit in the front row and maybe heckle Paul a little. Who knows?

Joy:

You had mentioned before that the conference obviously allows ODs and MDs to meet under the same roof. So how would you say that optometrists can best take advantage of this opportunity and do a little bit of networking?

Casella:

Oh, absolutely. Well, we have networking opportunities there. There will be networking opportunities throughout the weekend. Review your schedule. There are several. I will be attending as many as I can. I do have to fly out later on Saturday. You know, there will be networking opportunities, but really, just catching people in the hallways. You know, catching up in the hallways, that's where it really happens, in between classes. The physical layout is really great this year, and it's really going to be conducive to people just chit-chatting in between their didactic coursework. And so if you see me, let's go grab a coffee or let's go grab an IPA. Your choice.

Joy:

Absolutely, was there anything else about EyeCon that you wanted to mention that we haven't touched on yet?

Casella:

I'm excited to be there. I am thrilled to be part of the faculty again this year. It is a renowned faculty that I don't know how many people said no before they asked me, but I'm really thrilled to be sharing the stage with these Doctors of Optometry and of medicine as well. Come on down. It's going to be great. The weather looks good. I can't wait to see you guys.

Joy:

Absolutely we can't wait either. Well, thank you very much, Dr Cassela, for taking the time today. We appreciate it.

Casella:

Thanks for having me.