Workshops

(WK-01) Basics of Scleral Contact Lens Fitting: It's As Easy As 1-2-3
8:00 AM to 10:00 AM
Matthew Kauffman, Pam Satjawatcharaphong, Karen Lai Yin Lee, Elise Kramer
This two-hour presentation is an interactive, workshop format where basic principles of large diameter, rigid, scleral contact lenses are discussed. A didactic portion is followed by hands-on practice with insertion, removal, and fitting of scleral lenses. Instructors who are members of the Scleral Lens Education Society will provide hands on fitting experience using scleral lenses from several different lens companies. 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-02) Fitting Peripheral Prisms for Hemianopia
1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Eli Peli
Theoretical basis and background information about the peripheral prism is covered. The clinical trials and laboratory experiments with the device are described. Advanced knowledge about secondary aspects and side effects of the prisms is addressed. Novel designs and fitting options are introduced. Hands-on experience in fitting the press-on version of the peripheral prisms and in fitting and ordering the permanent high power prisms is provided, as well as training patients in prisms use, measuring the field expansion. Practice with actual patients provided. 
Additional Fee Required: $150

(WK-03) Gonioscopy and 3-Mirror Retinal Evaluation Workshop
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Edeline Lu, Benedicte Gonzalez, Tina Zheng
This workshop provides hands-on practice using 3 and 4 mirror goniolenses to evaluate the angle, and peripheral retinal evaluation with the 3-mirror goniolens. We will also review indications for gonioscopy, angle anatomy and recording (interpretation and report). 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-04) Contemporary Management of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Srihari Narayanan, Narges Kasraie, Charles Connor, William Miller
This two hour presentation is an interactive, workshop format where doctors will have the opportunity to use the latest technologies available to manage dry eye. A ten-minute didactic presentation will demonstrate the devices and indicate their advantages and disadvantages. A live demonstration of how to use several of the technologies/devices will occur prior to hands-on use by the participants. 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-05) Implementing Sports Vision into a Primary Care Optometric Practice
9:00 AM to Noon
Katherine Green, Amar Sayani, Yin Tea
This workshop serves to provide hands-on training in sports and performance vision. The course will cover basic to advanced topics pertaining to sports vision evaluations and vision therapy activities for performance enhancement, including considerations when evaluating the concussed athlete. After a brief overview, participants will rotate through two stations to receive hands-on experience with tests and techniques. One station will focus on providing a sports vision assessment. The second station covers treatment and therapy options to enhance sports vision performance. 
Additional Fee Required: $150

(WK-06) Enhancing Patient Outcomes with GP Scleral Contact Lenses
9:00 AM to Noon
Stephen Byrnes, Ronald Watanabe
For the practitioner, a successfully fit GP scleral contact lens patient is rewarding both financially and emotionally. In this workshop the equipment and fitting strategies needed to accomplish this are reviewed. Through hands-on experience, attendees develop a skill set to efficiently fit scleral lenses. Four contemporary scleral lens designs are available for trial fitting. Attendees document clinical findings and design a scleral lens to achieve a successful fitting relationship to the cornea, limbus and conjunctiva/sclera. Trial lens parameters, clinical findings and required design changes are documented for review with the laboratory consultant. Common problems associated with scleral lenses are discussed. 
Additional Fee Required: $150

(WK-07) Foreign Body Removal Workshop
10:00 AM to Noon
Walter Potaznick, Irwin Shwom, James Mertz
A new medium of agarose, sand, iron filings and glitter are presented in mannequins mounted in the slit lamp. Multiple methods of ocular patching is presented. This workshop provides hands-on experience to safely remove non-penetrating to ocular foreign bodies and ocular patching. 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-08) Corneal and Scleral GP Multifocal Fitting Workshop
1:30 to 3:30 PM
Susan Gromacki, Daniel Fuller
GP multifocal contact lenses provide our presbyopic patients with excellent vision. However, the learning curve can be steep for both practitioner and patient. That especially includes combining the challenge of scleral contact lens fitting with presbyopia. This workshop will provide fitting pearls from experienced practitioners and allow the participant to obtain hands-on experience in fitting these specialty contact lenses. 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-09) Everything You Wanted to Know About Punctual Occlusion
1:30 to 3:30 PM
Walter Potaznick, Irwin Shwom
Punctal Plugs are a key adjunctive therapy in the relief of dry eye. This workshop trains each practitioner to insert diagnostic collagen and semi-permanent plugs. New as well as conventional plug designs are available for hands-on use. Each practitioner hones their chair-side skills in the application of these devices. 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-10) Funduscopy and 3-Mirror Peripheral Retinal Evaluation
3:30 to 5:30 PM
Edeline Lu, Tina Zheng, Benedicte Gonzalez
This workshop provides hands-on practice of evaluation of the posterior pole using non-contact fundus lenses and evaluation of peripheral retina using 3-mirror goniolenses as well as non-contact fundus lenses. 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-11) Building Confidence in Gonioscopy
8:00 to 10:00 AM
Kelly Thompson, Amila Herbert, Carly Rose
Gonioscopy is a complex procedure that can be difficult to master. This workshop is designed to enhance the clinician's gonioscopy skills, by providing the participant with hands-on instruction for "getting and maintaining the view", correctly interpreting the view, and diagnosing anomalies of the angle. Participants will rotate through several stations including: applying the lens to the eye (using a variety of different lenses); instruction on using the corneal wedge technique (to verify angle structures); recording gonioscopic findings and therapeutic treatment of angle closure; and a videography presentation, as well as photographic presentation of normal versus abnormal angle structures. 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-12) Vision Therapy/Visual Training for Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) / Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
9:00 AM to Noon
Paul Harris, Marc Taub, Melissa Zarn
Vision Therapy for ABI/TBI is presented as a hands-on clinical workshop experience to familiarize the attendees with a minimum of 15 different vision therapy activities that are typically done with these patients. Areas of concentration include: treating Visual Perceptual – Space & Time issues, treating Unilateral Spatial Inattention and Blindsight and treating Oculomotor issues. Attendees will experience each of the VT activities in small groups and they will be given formal write-ups of each activity for use with their own patients. 
Additional Fee Required: $150

(WK-13) Sutureless Amniotic Membranes: How to Properly Insert and Remove Them
10:00 AM to Noon
Nicholas Colatrella, Jeffrey Varanelli, Stacy Hinkemeyer-Colatrella, Jeanette Varanelli
The amniotic membrane is a biologic tissue that promotes healing of the ocular surface. This two-hour workshop will discuss the newer sutureless amniotic membranes available for optometric use, and discuss their current indications, while allowing the participant to insert and remove the various tissues on one another. 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-14) Anterior Segment Laser Workshop: YAG cap, LPI, SLT
2:00 to 5:00 PM
Nathan Lighthizer
The use of laser energy to treat various anterior segment conditions, including posterior capsular opacification PCO, angle closure glaucoma, and open angle glaucoma, is now able to be performed by optometrists in multiple states. Optometrists in all 50 states manage patients pre- and post-operatively for YAG capsulotomies, laser peripheral iridotomies, and selective laser trabeculoplasties. This workshop will provide hands-on training to further enhance the understand and knowledge of the participants regarding these procedures. This workshop will also review and update these ophthalmic laser procedures. 
Additional Fee Required: $150

(WK-15) Basics of Scleral Contact Lens Fitting: It's As Easy As 1-2-3
3:00 to 5:00 PM
Daniel Fuller, Maria Walker, Mindy Toabe, Langis Michaud
This two-hour presentation is an interactive, workshop format where basic principles of large diameter, rigid, scleral contact lenses are discussed. A didactic portion is followed by hands-on practice with insertion, removal, and fitting of scleral lenses. Instructors who are members of the Scleral Lens Education Society will provide hands on fitting experience using scleral lenses from several different lens companies. 
Additional Fee Required: $100

(WK-16) Implementing Evaluation and Treatment of Dry Eye in Your Practice
8:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Andrew McLeod, Amy Nau
Dry eye disease is extremely prevalent and is often the cause of ocular discomfort, contact lens dropout, and poor visual performance. This workshop will help the participant standardize their exam flow and to incorporate supplemental testing as indicated. Interpretation of the findings will be emphasized to ensure a proper diagnosis is initiated. Select treatments, including those done in-home and in-office, will be demonstrated. The workshop is designed to help practitioners in a primary care setting to those wishing to create a specialty care office. 
Additional Fees Required: $150

(WK-17) Injectable Medications in Primary Eyecare
9:00 AM to Noon
Jennifer Sanderson, Michael Dorkowski, Jason Duncan, Scott Ensor
This workshop provides hands on administration of periocular and additional parenteral injection techniques commonly utilized by the primary eyecare practitioner. It is taught by practitioners who employ these techniques on a routine basis in both the daily clinical and laboratory setting. There are four stations: subconjunctival, intra-lesional, intravenous, and an intravitreal/retrobulbar video station. An optional intramuscular station is available to the attendees who choose to pursue. 
Additional Fees Required: $150

(WK-18) How to Perform a Strabismus Evaluation in a Primary Care Setting
1:00 to 4:00 PM
Reena Patel, Angela Chen, Kristine Huang
This workshop is designed to provide practitioners hands-on experience at performing strabismus evaluations in a primary care setting. A brief overview of the components of a strabismus evaluation will be given at the beginning of the workshop. Attendees will then perform these tests using basic equipment that is readily available in most practices. 
Additional Fees Required: $150

(WKW-19) Visual Information Processing Testing: A Hands On Approach
Noon to 3:00 PM
Marc Taub, Pamela Schnell, Melissa Zarn
Vision is a learned process and when there are breaks in development, problems ensue. This hands on workshop will detail the theories of visual processing development as well as provide a hands-on approach to testing issues related to visual information processing. Testing will be broken up into three stations including motor skills, preschool-age children, and school-age children and highlight twelve test protocols.
Additional fees required: $25

(WKW-20) Cultivating Skills in Scholarship
3:00 to 5:00 PM
Aurora Denial
Ernest Boyer’s broader concept of scholarship includes the scholarship of discovery (research), integration (novel insights, interpreting themes), application (building bridges between theory and practice) and teaching (communicating one’s knowledge). This 2-hour workshop is designed to support optometric educators in developing their own philosophy of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Participants will review Boyer’s Model of Scholarship and identify ways that they can apply examples of scholarship. Pathways for publication, along with common pitfalls that delay or impede publication, will be discussed. Participants will have the opportunity to generate research questions and methodologies to advance their efforts in SoTL.
Additional Fees Required: $25

(WKW-21) Slit Lamp Workshop: An Approach for Ideal Hybrid Contact Lens Fitting
8:00 to 10:00 AM
Eithar Beshtawi
Hybrid lenses combine the visual performance of a RGP lens with the comfort of a soft lens, makes them a powerful tool in correcting vision for patients with irregular corneas. This workshop is designed to illustrate the main steps needed to optimize the ideal hybrid contact-lenses for your patient as well as providing an explanation of the fluorescein pattern that needs to be considered. It will provide a unique opportunity to increase confidence in Hybrid lens fitting skills. The program will combine the necessary theoretical explanation as well as providing a hands-on experience for lens fitting and assessment in practice.
Additional Fees Required: $25

(WKW-22) Slit Lamp Workshop: Let's Fit Sclerals: Overview and Hands on Workshops
10:00 AM to Noon
Renee Reeder
This course will cover the appropriate handling of scleral lenses and will be reinforced by having attendees apply lenses to one another and to themselves. Basic starting points for the normal cornea will be emphasized. The attendees will then select at least two different designs and evaluate them with the slit lamp. Common concerns including toric needs, impingement, lift off and fogging will also be introduced.
Additional Fees Required: $25

(WKW-23) Peer Review Case Discussion
1:00 to 3:00 PM
Karen Sparrow
In a small round-table groups you will discuss clinical cases presented to you as case reports. These cases are likely to include ocular diseases (including tropical), hygiene and disease, ocular emergencies, referral pathways and dispensing advice. This format is open to all and similar to Grand Rounds but run as a small group discussion. It is of particular interest to international optometrists wanting to maintain their registration in the UK but residing and practicing outside the UK who need to complete one Peer Review session to meet their continuing education requirements.
Additional Fees Required: $25

(WKW-24) How to Overcome Challenges in Assessing Student Competencies
3:00 to 5:00 PM
Luigina Sorbara, Etty Bitton
Assessing student competencies is often a challenging but necessary task of academic pro-grams, including optometry. Challenges are often related to establishing competencies or to conduct them. These can include lack of resources (supervisors, instrumentation), financial impact and, time and space allocations to conduct them. This workshop will provide educator attendees with a template of student competencies in contact lenses and use it to address, through break out group discussion, their own institutional challenges and develop strategies to overcome them.
Additional Fees Required: $25