The Fellows Advanced Vitreous Surgery (FAVS) Course was held at Duke Eye Center April 14-15, 2016. The program is an opportunity for first year surgical VR, medical retina, and uveitis fellows from across the country to experience a dedicated course to highlight techniques and concepts needed to transition into their second year of training. The event includes lectures and a hands-on wet lab that allows fellows to interact with faculty from Duke and around the country.
For surgical retina fellows, there was a unique opportunity to directly compare microscopes, visualization systems, intraoperative optical coherence tomography imaging systems, vitrectomy machines, forceps, laser probes, sub-retinal needles, and a range of other tools to become familiar with the instrumentation. The course augmented a fully-trained surgeon’s surgical approach, transfer complex surgical skills, and expose surgeons to a range of instrumentation to improve their selection for the task at hand. For medical retina fellows, there will be an equally unique opportunity to gain exposure to various imaging technologies, injectable steroid drugs, photodynamic therapy treatment, etc.
This course was designed help fellows develop personalized treatment algorithms for common retinal diseases and raise awareness of current real-world retinal practice issues.