EACH MONTH, Contact Lens Spectrum broadcasts a livestream series called CLS Live! during which the host sits down with leaders in the world of contact lenses to discuss new and future products, the latest research, and worldwide trends in prescribing—and even brings viewers up to date live from the floor of CLS conferences such as the Global Specialty Lens Symposium (GSLS).

This episode, which aired on Feb. 28, was hosted by Jason Jedlicka, OD, a clinical professor at Indiana University School of Optometry and chief of the school’s Cornea and Contact Lens Service. In this broadcast, he spoke with GSLS Program Committee members Ashley Wallace-Tucker, OD, a partner at Bellaire Family Eye Care in the Houston area; and Eef van der Worp, BOptom, PhD, who runs Eye-Contact-Lens Research & Education consultancy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Q: Jason Jedlicka, OD: Let’s recap GSLS 2023 [hosted in January in Las Vegas]. The first was held in 2009. How did you get involved?

A: Eef van der Worp, BOptom, PhD: It’s my favorite meeting of the year. You mentioned 2009 as the start of GSLS, which is true, but it started as the Global Orthokeratology Symposium (GOS) in Toronto [before that]. I started on the GOS committee in 2005 when it moved to Chicago and then ever since.

Q: Dr. Jedlicka: Ashley, you’re new to the committee—how was it?

A: Ashley Wallace-Tucker, OD: It was fantastic. I have been an attendee since my residency in 2010, and it’s unbelievable what goes on behind the scenes. As an attendee, you take for granted how it all comes together. Being on the other side of things gives you an appreciation for all that has to be done; there’s a whole team of people who are working nonstop.

Q: Dr. Jedlicka: It was two years ago that we did this virtually. This year felt like back to pre-COVID.

A: Dr. van der Worp: The vibe was completely back. It felt like “Man, we’re back in business,” quite literally. We were very close to pre-COVID numbers. We had 38 countries represented.

Q: Dr. Jedlicka: Let’s talk about the education program. Was there something that was increasingly emphasized this year?

A: Dr. Wallace-Tucker: I had the pleasure of moderating “Scleral Lenses: Big Lenses, Big Innovations,” where a great panel of thought leaders focused on scleral lenses beyond ectasias, beyond keratoconus—the uses that maybe we do not think about on a day-to-day basis—so managing ocular surface disease, graft-versus-host, using them to heal corneal scars. Those patients need special attention, but they’re quite successful. I’m hoping we relayed the message that scleral lenses can be used in mainstream practice.

We also had a great talk about the future of scleral lens optics, utilizing wavefront-guided optics to fit these patients who need a little bit more TLC when it comes to their prescriptions.

A: Dr. van der Worp: Another session that was extremely popular was “Worst Case Scenarios,” with Drs. Carina Koppen and Deborah Jacobs—so involving MDs and ODs on these cases that a couple years ago you would think “I’m not even going to touch that.”

We’re trying to balance that a little bit. We want to give beginners a good starting course if they don’t have the experience with sclerals. Then at the same time, we want to do all the advanced stuff, and I think that was covered pretty well.

Q: Dr. Jedlicka: In optometry, is there anything hotter than myopia management right now? At GSLS, what did we learn on the future of myopia management?

A: Dr. van der Worp: CLS also has a spinoff of the GSLS—the Global Myopia Symposium. So, what we try to do with GSLS is to focus as much as we can on the contact lens part. So, for instance, ortho-k was big on the on the program. We also saw a couple of posters on that topic. Dr. Kate Gifford and Professor Ian Flitcroft talked about general myopia as well.

Q: Dr. Jedlicka: Are there people bringing new soft lens technology into the space as well?

A: Dr. van der Worp: It’s not a scleral lens meeting. It’s not a myopia meeting. It’s a specialty lens symposium, and we’re missing out on soft lenses when it comes to the irregular cornea. We can do much more, and there was actually a good session on that. I see a bright future for specialty custom made soft lenses. Stay tuned for that one.

Q: Dr. Jedlicka: Anything else from the program that really jumped out for you this year?

A: Dr. Wallace-Tucker: I loved Dr. Lyndon Jones’s [session] about the future of contact lenses. He gave great examples of virtual reality/augmented reality contact lenses that might be part of the future, how contact lenses may be able to detect and treat ocular and systemic conditions, and then the potential for improving vision for low vision patients.

A: Dr. van der Worp: After three years, being able to talk to all my friends, all the industry researchers, the residents, the posters—that was the highlight of the meeting for me.

Q: Dr. Jedlicka: GSLS is increasingly looked at as a place for scientific posters to be presented, and it’s gaining credibility as a place for that information to come out. Tell me about the posters.

A: Dr. van der Worp: If you think about evidence-based medicine, everything needs to be backed up by science. And in our specialty lens arena, that’s not always easy. For example, scleral lens wouldn’t be here if everything needed to be backed up in the past.

Having said that, we tried to bring that in as much as possible. We had 155 posters and free papers submitted. In terms of topics, it is a little bit scleral-heavy. While corneal GPs are a topic of interest—and there was a fantastic session by Pat Caroline and Randy Kojima on that—it’s thin in terms of submissions, so hopefully they’ll be better next year.

Q: Dr. Jedlicka: In the early days of GSLS, the exhibit hall had about 12 little booths; now the exhibit hall is amazing. Can you talk about exhibits and the extracurricular activities that go on at GSLS?

A: Dr. Wallace-Tucker: We had 56 exhibitors and sponsors this year. And the vibe in the exhibit hall was outstanding…it’s where I go to get new ideas, to collaborate with like-minded people. There’s no shortage of extracurricular activities; every evening there was some sort of big event going on.

Q: Dr. Jedlicka: What do you love most about GSLS that keeps you coming back every year?

A: Dr. van der Worp: I think it’s important that people understand that it has three parts: general sessions, that’s a big room with hundreds of people; breakout sessions, it’s CE approved, and no products are mentioned; and industry breakouts, it’s new stuff and you can talk to the manufacturers, and those are not CE approved. There’s always something going on at any time.

A: Dr. Wallace-Tucker: When I come back from GSLS, I feel invigorated, energized. It’s where I go to get new ideas and to collaborate with my colleagues. I can’t tell you the quality of education that comes out of GSLS. It’s unmatched.

Dr. Jedlicka: GSLS gives you the ability customize; it’s just a great meeting in that way. I love how the program committee has evolved. It is a great committee in terms of diversity of experiences and backgrounds with some in academia and some in private practice. I think it’s a great mix of folks to get a well-rounded program that meets everybody’s needs. CLS

CATCH CLS LIVE! Watch this livestream’s full interview—and catch past and future episodes in the series via the online version of Contact Lens Spectrum at clspectrum.com or our Facebook or LinkedIn pages. Additionally, you can subscribe to Contact Lens Spectrum’s YouTube channel (bit.ly/clsyoutube22 ) to view this and other past interviews and to receive notifications for upcoming ones.