GSLS 2023

Global Specialty Lens Symposium in Las Vegas 

I recently attended the Global Specialty Lens Symposium (GSLS) which is held every year in Las Vegas.  This is one of the biggest contact lens conferences in the world and – as the name implies – there is an emphasis throughout the meeting on the contact lens management of conditions such as keratoconus, post-graft, myopia, astigmatism and paediatric aphakia.  This year there were over 500 contact lens specialists from all around the world in attendance and – due to COVID – that the meeting had been held in three years.  Needless to say, after all the restrictions of the last few years it was great to meet up with many old friends and colleagues at the conference.

During the meeting, the Committee of the GSLS presented an Award of Excellence to my friend and colleague Steve Vincent.  Steve is an Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology and his research in the field of contact lenses over the last 10 years has been outstanding.  I have had the good fortune to be a co-author with Steve on a number of clinical and scientific papers over the last few years and he, Jillian and I are currently working on a paper looking at clinical outcomes for keratoconus patients who are required to undergo cataract surgery.

There were also many interesting presentations on rigid scleral lenses – by both practitioners and contact lens companies – at the conference.  These lenses are quickly becoming the most commonly prescribed form of rigid lens prescribed in the world due to the many advantages they offer to the contact lens patient and there continue to be exciting innovations in the design of these lenses which we will be incorporating into the practice over the next few months.

- Richard