Dear Friends and Colleagues
Over the years, the field of Ophthalmology has undergone an enormous expansion in clinical trials and basic research as well as in cutting-edge technology. The growing challenges of ophthalmic diseases, including macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataract, refractive surgery and glaucoma has reached epidemic dimensions, and a myriad of treatment possibilities are being explored in different directions. The fields of dry eye, refractive surgery, oculoplastics, advances in IOLs and socioeconomic issues also have contributed to the need to debate many controversial issues, which come up in clinical situations each and every day.
The World Congress on Controversies in Ophthalmology (COPHy) is intended as an exclusive forum for international experts to share and compare experiences in order to outline the potentially best treatments for patients within these controversial areas. A Congress focusing on controversies in Ophthalmology is a new concept. There is little available in the peer-reviewed literature on controversies in Ophthalmology, so there is a perceived need to enable an effective debate about unresolved issues, often resulting in agreed-upon answers supported by evidence-based medicine and expert opinion.