Masterclass Knowledge Fest – a unique concept that promotes knowledge sharing in the optical trade community – made a grand comeback after three years. It was attended by over 260 practitioners from different cities, institutions and industry groups. First day of the event was dedicated to three workshops, viz. Myopia Management -How do I begin?, Unlock the power of customer’s life time value and Contact lenses-horses for courses. The workshop on Myopia management was facilitated by Optometrists – Nilesh Thite, Yeshwant Saoji and Aparna Gopalakrishnan in which they spoke about the myopia scenario in the country, its evolution, trends for high/ pathologic myopia, forecast of myopia by 2050, indoor centric lifestyle leading to myopia and myopia progression due to COVID-19, why counselling is important for managing Myopia and tools required in management of myopia, clinical case assessments and the various options available in spectacles and contact lenses for slowing down myopia progression. Following this workshop, industry partners like Essilor and Zeiss also introduced their lenses in terms of managing myopia.
Second workshop which was based on how to develop business was taken by Mr. Mangesh Shenai, Founder – DEEKSHA Group and his colleague Mr. Kanwal Tikoo. They conducted interactive group activities to charge up the attendees and also gave important tips on how to add values to customer’s life and what are the mantras to grow optical business.
Towards the end of the day, it was time for a discussion on contact lenses and this workshop was conducted by Optometrists – Nilesh Thite, Khemraj Nackwal and Isha Dave. In this workshop, couple of role-plays were performed by the students to emphasise the importance of daily disposable contact lens for occasional wearers, multifocal contact lenses for presbyopes and further the discussion was done on various modalities of contact lenses and how these modalities can be used by practitioners to enhance their contact lens practice as well as satisfy their patients by proactive approach.
The second day of the event started by lamp lighting which was done by Optometrists – Kunda Ganatra and Nitin Ransingh in the presence of Nilesh Thite and Yeshwant Saoji which was followed by the first session of the conference “Grow with contact lenses” chaired by Optom. Amod Gogate and Optom. Lakshmi Shinde in which the first presenter was Optom. Nilesh Thite, he talked about safe contact lens wear and how we can take care of our contact lenses so that they can take care of our eyes. Then there was a talk by Optom. Prasad Sawant on CL practice in post COVID-19 era in which he shared few research papers on important considerations in CL practice and purchase behaviour for contact lenses globally during and post pandemic. He also shared the experience of his own practice and how he managed his contact lens patients during and post pandemic. He concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that contact wearers are more at a risk of catching COVID – 19. Yeshwant Saoji offered some valuable inputs on how to convert occasional wearers to regular wearers and Dr. Pancham Kulkarni made contact lens wear more comfortable by adding his own experience.
Isha Dave spoke about Contact lens care products which included modern disinfection system and what are the ideal contact lens care products. This session was further enlightened by Lakshmi Shinde in which she talked about her ways of managing dry eyes in contact lens wear by discussing few cases of her clinic. Following this Bausch + Lomb introduced their most comfortable Ultra One day lens and offered free trial to all the delegates going on their booth.
The next session of the day was about how to “Grow your Optical Practice”, and for this charge was taken by Mangesh Shenai in which he spoke about the emerging face of the new consumer and suggested actions that can help us influence patients’ behaviour. Kanwal Tikoo talked about the new levels of business ownership and gave a glimpse of the thought process of successful business owners. Isha Dave spoke about comprehensive approach in paperless practice by showcasing ASIRA, a software which includes all the requirements of an optometry clinic. Tauseef Anwar spoke about how social media work, marketing strategies, and how it can help to drive traffic to your website. Last but not the least, an absorbing panel discussion was moderated by Nilesh Thite and Yeshwant Saoji, Rao Deshpande and Tauseef Anwar were the panellists. They discussed about social media and business, initial road blocks, consistency in messaging on social media and return on investment.
The day was concluded with vote of thanks wherein the organisers acknowledged the contributions of the organising team members, volunteers (Rishabh, Rupal, Sudhanshu, Kushaiy, Shraddha), colleagues, delegates and the sponsors.
The last day started with a very relevant panel discussion on “Bridge the expectation gap between employer and employee” moderated by Amod Gogate. He discussed with representatives of industries and hospital administrators about their expectations towards employees and he also called young graduates to know their perception and level of expectations from employers. This session was concluded by saying that “career should be preferred over job.”
Yeshwant Saoji showcased his love towards presbyopes, spoke about various options in contact lenses, importance of counselling in managing presbyopes with contact lenses. Optom. Suzanne Poncha spoke about contact lens compliance, common issues of poor hand hygiene and contact lens fouling. Isha Dave from ContaCare discussed investigative tools in dry eye examination and also made the delegates aware of Demodex blepharitis and its investigations.
Optom. Saranya Balasubramanium delivered a talk on new tools in clinician’s toolkit and discussed various latest devices that can be used in clinical practice. Essilor in their sponsor’s talk discussed about their latest products including Crizal series, Varilux series and Transitions. Optom. Ajay Shinde shared his views on comprehensive eye examination protocol and discussed importance of various examinations and how to document the findings. Optom. Prasad Sawant gave his insights on the importance of referrals within eye care practice and also to other health care practitioners. He shared some practical tips drawn from vast clinical experience.
For the session of Binocular vision, Optom. Nivedha Santharam spoke about Vision and its importance, Visual perception skills. Optom. Aditya Goyal made Binocular vision very easy by using white board and markers and discussed grades of Binocular vision and their importance.
The last session of MKF4 was dedicated to the world of spectacles, in which Dr Usman Memon talked about the working of blue cut and anti-fatigue lenses, effect and impact of blue light blocking spectacle lenses and also made clarification about when to prescribe blue cut lenses. Optom. Rishikesh Bapat took charge to advocate sunglasses and spoke about their importance in daily life and how sunglasses can be used other than fashion accessory. Freeform technology, digital designs and their importance, and the various digital designs available in PALS were addressed by Ajay Mishra.
The conference enjoyed the support of several industry partners: Bausch + Lomb (Title sponsor), ContaCare (Gold sponsor), Essilor, Hoya, Zeiss and ASIRA (Silver sponsors), who participated actively through presentations, exhibitions. Contest was organized by Bausch + Lomb in which the winners got the gift hampers from them.
“Masterclass Knowledge Fest 4” was a huge success overall because of the motivational talks and idea-sharing sessions, and attendees gained valuable lessons that would help them enhance their practice and succeed in their endeavours.
