Victoria Conference 2023: Identifying glaucoma suspects

Dina Erickson, OD, FAAO, shared highlights from her 2023 Victoria Conference presentation, "Glaucoma suspects," while onsite with Peg Achenbach, OD, FAAO, Executive Director of Global Ambassador Strategies Ophthalmology and Optometry for MJH Life Sciences®, the parent company of Optometry Times®.

The 2023 Victoria Conference, presented by the Pacific University College of Optometry, was held July 13-16, 2023, in Victoria, BC.

Peg Achenbach, OD, FAAO:

We are here at the Victoria Conference, given by Pacific University College of Optometry, and we're in Victoria, BC. This is Dr. Dina Erickson, and she's going to give us a summary on her lecture on glaucoma.

Dina Erickson, OD, FAAO:

Yes, well, thank you for having me. And today we talked about some glaucoma suspect things to think about that aren't always on the top of people's minds, like corneal hysteresis, ganglion cell loss, doing a 10-2, and when to do those kinds of things; as well as the coming of artificial intelligence and its role in glaucoma treatment, and as well as diagnosis, more importantly. So those are some of the things that were highlighted today.

Achenbach:

You know, I was really interested in the nasalization of the vessel trunk. Now, how long has that information been around?

Erickson:

That information has been around for a little while, I think people just, again, when they look at the optic nerve [it's] mostly, what's the C/D ratio, and they move on from there.

There's so much more at looking at the vessels and where they are and how they're hanging. And a lot of times, it's really hard to see any changes if you're not taking pictures of those optic nerves and comparing them over time to see, "Well look at those vessels. they've shifted," because I don't know where the vessels are from the beginning.

It's really important to have baseline pictures and continuously taking pictures as you see these patients you're gonna have for years, so you want to be continuously monitoring them over time.

Achenbach:

Great. Thanks. So tell me a little bit about the Victoria Conference and how long you've been involved with it.

Erickson:

So the Victoria Conference is one of my favorites, I love it; it's such a beautiful city and there's so much to do.

One of my favorite things to do here is whale watching; we're gonna go whale watching tomorrow. And when they take you out there, the people know all these whales, and they'll give them names and they'll say this one had a baby recently. And we've been coming here for many years; my daughter celebrated her second birthday here and she is going to be turning 22 next week. So that's when my husband was lecturing 20 years ago, [and] we've been here a couple other times.

It's a great conference; [there are] a lot of really excellent speakers and great information. And you have classes in the morning, then you have the afternoons to sightsee, and walk around and see beautiful British Columbia and Victoria.

Achenbach:

Thank you very much. Thanks for being with us.

Erickson:

Thank you for having me.