Blindness of premature infants and the retina.. Discussion at the Saudi Ophthalmology Conference 2022

The scientific program of the Saudi Ophthalmology Conference 2022 will be hosted simultaneously with the Sixth Red Sea International Conference on Ophthalmology, which will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jeddah from Thursday 10 November until Saturday 12 November 2022 in the presence of a group of doctors and experts speaking from all over the world in addition to doctors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to discuss The latest developments in all specialties of ophthalmology.

Dr. explained. Inaam Danish, a consultant and head of the Children’s Eyes and Strabismus Committee at the conference, said that diseases that affect children’s eyes and their causes, from the eyes of premature or newborn children to all their other age stages, will be discussed. She pointed out that the conference focuses on the latest methods of treating these diseases, both congenital diseases that affect children’s eyes since birth, such as cataracts or the so-called congenital cataracts, and glaucoma, which causes high intraocular pressure and its danger to gradual vision loss in children.

The conference also sheds light on the causes of various common strabismus diseases in children and the latest ways to treat them to protect the child from lazy eyesight due to the delay in treatment and diagnosis.

Danish added that the conference will discuss one of the most important causes of blindness in premature infants due to premature birth, which may affect the retina, and shows the importance of early examination and methods of laser or injection therapy to treat such cases.

Danish confirmed that genetic diseases in the Kingdom constitute an important part of the diseases that may affect society, which may lead to various mental and physical disabilities in general, as well as visual disabilities in particular, which is due to the spread of consanguineous marriage. She noted the Kingdom’s endeavor to reduce the spread of such diseases by spreading awareness among members of society and providing the means to support the injured and their families and methods of treatment.

Danish revealed that the conference contributes, for the first time, to highlighting, for the first time, an intensive scientific session for all interested doctors or professionals in genetics, on inherited retinal diseases, which are considered one of the most important causes of blindness and inherited night blindness, all of which are often caused by inbreeding.

Reviewing the latest inherited genes, which are approximately 300 genes that may affect the retina, discussing the cause of its spread and the latest treatment methods, and reviewing what has been successfully achieved in the Kingdom for some of these cases.