A popular workshop on performing lacrimal syringing will be delivered during the AOP and SECO-organised Therapeutics London event, which takes place in the capital in September.
Run by optometrist and head of optometry at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Declan Hovenden, the workshop is designed to demonstrate to practitioners that lacrimal syringing is something that they are all capable of doing.
“Lacrimal syringing is a procedure that can be done easily in practice by optometrists, but today it is not something that is routinely done,” Mr Hovenden told OT, adding: “One of the main reasons for that is that there is a little bit of a fear about the procedure because it is a little bit more invasive than the things that you would typically do in optometric practice.”
During the workshop, practitioners will have the opportunity to both perform the procedure and act as a patient. Mr Hovenden said that being the patient was an important part of the workshop because “when you go to do the procedure [it is valuable] to be able to educate the patient as to what their experience of the procedure is likely to be.”
There are many benefits to offering lacrimal syringing in practice, Mr Hovenden explained: “It’s a great thing to be able to do and it’s very fulfilling to be able to solve a problem for a patient with this kind of issue as it can be a real quality of life issue for patients.”
“It is also very good for the reputation of the optometrist,” Mr Hovenden added.
Having attended the workshop at Therapeutics Manchester last month, optometrist Rebecca Ireland said: “It was quite new and has given me new skills to hopefully try and hone in practice all being well.”
Optometrist Dharmesh Patel added: “I really enjoyed the lacrimal syringing workshop, it was an experience both doing and being on the receiving end.”
The workshop will be repeated during the Therapeutics London conference, which will be held at Bloomsbury London on 23–24 September.
For more information and to book, visit the AOP website.
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