Nov. 21, 2024 — The World Council of Optometry (WCO) and EssilorLuxottica have announced a virtual event with a series of live sessions, “Presbyopia and Aging Eye,” aimed at advancing education and understanding of the mitigation, measurement, and management of presbyopia and aging eye care.

Taking place Dec. 4-6, the event is part of a collaborative effort to establish a global standard of care for presbyopia and equip practitioners with evidence-based guidelines to improve patient outcomes. Each session takes place at 3 a.m., 7 a.m., and 1 p.m. EST and features three internationally renowned speakers, with the first session hosted by Sandra Block, O.D., MEd, MPH, FAAO, Dipl AAO; Olga Prenat; Dimple Zala; and Cindy Tromans, O.D., Ph.D. The following two sessions are hosted by Zala and Dr. Tromans.

• The first session, “Presbyopia and Aging Eye: Mitigation,” takes place Dec. 4 with a focus on research, prevalence, impact on public health, and the physiological and psychological factors associated with presbyopia.
• The second session, “Presbyopia and Aging Eye: Measurement,” takes place Dec. 5 and focuses on assessing lifestyle-related visual needs and measuring presbyopia's impact to create tailored vision solutions.
• The third session, “Presbyopia and Aging Eye: Management,” takes place Dec. 6 and explores vision correction options and strategies to address individual visual and lifestyle needs.

“This initiative with WCO represents a vital step in supporting eyecare practitioners to adopt evidence-based best practices in managing presbyopia,” says Olga Prenat, head of medical and professional affairs at EssilorLuxottica. “By enhancing understanding of the needs and challenges of presbyopes, we can collectively address this public health issue and improve patient outcomes.”

"Presbyopia and aging issues are problems that we expect all of our patients to experience,” says WCO president Dr. Block. “The World Council of Optometry is excited to partner with EssilorLuxottica to bring the current state of care supported by the most up-to-date evidence to best serve our patient's needs.”

ECPs can register for the live sessions on EssilorLuxottica’s learning platform, Leonardo.