EyeWorld Asia-Pacific December 2011 Issue

5 EW NEWS & OPINION December 2011 APACRS • KSCRS Seoul 2011: The Pursuit of Perfection by EyeWorld and EyeWorld Asia-Pacific Staff Reportage from the 24th APACRS Annual Meeting in conjunction with the 2011 KSCRS Symposium (The 6th IMACRS), 13-16 October 2011 at the Coex Convention Center, Seoul, Korea T he 2011 APACRS/KSCRS meeting went in Pursuit of Perfection, but the opening ceremony of the meeting revealed a secondary theme: Both APACRS President Graham Barrett, MD, and KSCRS President Hungwon Tchah, MD, PhD, called on attendees to use the meeting to establish new friendships and renew old ones. In further acknowledgement of the spirit of friendship, Prof. Barrett presented Prof. Tchah with a special award as an “expression of appreciation” for all his hard work and support for the Society and the meeting. Recognizing achievements APACRS and KSCRS recognized outstanding ophthalmologists at the ceremony. APACRS bestowed the APACRS Gold Medal on Kyung Hwan Shin, MD, Seoul, South Korea. The Society awarded Choun-Ki Joo, MD, Seoul, South Korea, the APACRS Certified Educator Award, an award given through a program sponsored by Abbott Medical Optics (AMO, Santa Ana, Calif., USA), Alcon (Fort Worth, Texas, USA/Hünenberg, Switzerland), and Bausch + Lomb (Rochester, NY, USA), in close partnership with the Singapore National Eye Centre, in recognition of ophthalmologists who “have made significant contributions to train surgeons in the Asia-Pacific.” KSCRS presented awards recognizing the significant contributions of ophthalmologists to the development of the Society to Gerd Auffarth, MD, PhD, Heidelberg, Germany, Terry Kim, MD, Durham, NC, USA, Nam Ho Baek, MD, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, and Jin Hak Lee, MD, Seoul, South Korea. 2011 Lim Lecture The “highest award” for the meeting was given to Hiroko Bissen-Miyajima, MD, PhD, Tokyo, Japan, who presented the APACRS Lim Lecture, “My Insight on the Multifocal IOL.” What characterizes Prof. Bissen-Miyajima best, said Prof. Barrett, “beyond her sharp intellect and her achievements in academics,” are her wisdom and “a very special warmth that she extends to everyone, from top to bottom.” Displaying this warmth and a healthy dose of humor, Prof. Bissen-Miyajima began her lecture by contrasting the common opinion of multifocal IOLs with most peoples’ taste for sushi and kimchi. Most people probably like sushi and kimchi, she said, but most ophthalmologists will say they don’t like multifocals; yet, paradoxically, she noted that almost half of surgeons continue to implant multifocal IOLs. Initially, Prof. Bissen- Miyajima was skeptical of multifocals; her opinion underwent a radical transformation following an unusual experience with a patient who was in a unique position to compare monofocals and multifocals. Despite some qualms regarding nighttime glare and halos, the patient decided to have her monofocal implants exchanged for multifocals after being dissatisfied with her near vision-so bad, the patient said, that when eating without spectacles, food no longer looked appetizing. What Prof. Bissen- Miyajima took from that experience was to ask, “What is most influential in your life?” Glare, halos, and similar disturbances or a wide range of vision including near without spectacles? Ultimately, she said, patient selection is the key to success. The full text of Prof. Bissen- Miyajima’s lecture will be made available, together with the lectures of past APACRS Lim Lecture awardees, on the APACRS website. Joint Plenary Session addresses worldwide presbyopic solutions Presbyopic solutions, such as accommodative intraocular lenses, monovision, and intracorneal inlays, and their benefits and drawbacks was the focus of the combined symposium of ASCRS, APACRS, and ESCRS titled, “Pres- byopic Solutions: Potential and Pitfalls.” Representatives from several cataract and refractive soci- eties presented examples of actual patients who had problems or were unhappy with their refractive re- sults and discussed how the issues were solved. Prof. Barrett, R. Doyle Stulting, MD, Atlanta, Ga., USA, and Damien Gatinel, MD, PhD, Paris, France, moderated the session. continued on page 7