UKEGS 2024- Highlights from my experience as a foundation doctor at the UK and Eire Glaucoma Society 2024

Mohammed Rifat

The UKEGS annual meeting in 2024 was a 2-day event held in the beautiful coastal city of Southampton, in the National Oceanographic Centre, celebrating 50 years. The UKEGS conference provided an exciting opportunity to listen to interesting cases related to Glaucoma from reputable speakers, gain an insight into technological advances within this field, view posters on display and more importantly have an opportunity to interact and associate with giants within the field of Glaucoma. 

The first day of the UKEGS annual meeting was held on the 9th of October 2024. The day started off with light refreshments and an opportunity to mingle. Introductions were made by the President of UKEGS Ms Nishani Amerasinghe and the first agenda was attended to; 5 regional cases from each of the five nations within the United Kingdom and Eire were presented to the expert panel. After these five cases, we delved into innovations in the clinical setting with sessions about visual field testing and anterior segment optical coherence tomography. We also had very interesting sessions covering how there are underserved communities suffering from glaucoma- which specifically looked into the black ethnic community and patients held in prison. There was also a session on Neuroprotection which explored the Nicotinamide trial. There was also a talk given by Singapore’s Mr Aung. There was also a session on sustainability and how we can reduce waste in our practice.  

Below is a summary of Day 1: 

  • Session 1- Five nations- Regional Cases from across UK and Eire evaluated by an expert panel. 
  • Scotland- Just Stop Oil. Andrew Tatham. Using silicone oil for bilateral retinal detachments. Should it still be used by fellow VR colleagues. 
  • Wales- End-stage, Endgame? Jonathan Kirk.  Elderly woman with end-stage glaucoma- how to support patients who are very independent. 
  • N. Ireland- Home remedies- sometimes patients know more. Gerard Reid.  
  • Eire- Travelling back in time. Pavi Agrawal. Middle aged man with bilateral worsening blurry vision + pain in Right eye.  
  • England- The long and short of it. David Lunt. Patient with what seemed to be having stable eye pressures but then quickly requiring multiple agents and then eventually surgery,  
  • Session 2- Investigations and Innovations in Clinic 
  • Visual Fields 
  • Anterior Segment OCT 
  • Session 2b- Glaucoma in Underserved Communities 
  • Black Ethnic Background 
  • Prison population- difficulty in assessing and treating those in the prison system.  
  • Session 3a- The Hitchings Lecture 
  • Session 3b- Sustainability in Glaucoma- Our Environmental Responsibilities 
  • Session 4a- Neuroprotection: The importance of Prevention 
  • Session 4b- How do I? Wisdom from the experts. 

Day 2 of the UKEGS annual meeting commenced on 10th October 2024. An early morning talk was given by Mr. G Rajaratnam for juniors and trainees, giving an insight into what a new consultant post is like and the best ways to secure a post. Later throughout the second day, talks were given on minimally invasive glaucoma surgery and bleb surgery (MIGS and MIBS), artificial intelligence in the field of glaucoma and the different types of glaucoma. 

 Below is a summary of the talks given on the second day of the annual meeting: 

  • Session 5- Surgery in Action 
  • MIGS and MIBS 
  • The Great Debate: This House believes MIGS should be implant free
  • Session 6- Patients first 
  • Human factors in ophthalmology 
  • Session 7a: AI- Seeing the Future 
  • Large language models in Glaucoma 
  • Session 7b: Different Glaucomas: The Unusual that’s Usual
  • Neovascular Glaucoma 
  • Uveitis + Glaucoma 
  • Pediatric Glaucoma 
  • Session 8: Rapid Fire Cases 

This 2-day conference allows for 11 CPD points to be accredited by the Royal College of Ophthalmology. It is an excellent opportunity for not only ophthalmologists, but also junior doctors to attend a UKEGS meeting, allowing them to become aware of the fast-paced sub-specialty that is Glaucoma, an opportunity to network and submit work such as poster presentations and abstract submissions. The two-day event ticket cost £230 altogether, without the celebratory dinner, for healthcare professionals that are not consultant ophthalmologists. Attending an annual meeting will also give 1 point towards the Ophthalmology Specialty Training portfolio as this is a national meeting. The next annual UKEGS meeting will be held in November 2025, in the historical city of Edinburgh.

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