November 19, 2021 Ufa Eye Research Institute held a hybrid MYOPIA conference. Almost 1,000 ophthalmologists of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia and other countries participated. Thus, Russia was represented by specialists from almost all regions of our country: from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok and from Murmansk to Makhachkala (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Vladivostok, Bratsk, Pyatigorsk, Krasnoyarsk, Makhachkala, Kaliningrad, Irkutsk, Yalta, Ulan-Ude, Magadan, Yakutsk, Chita, Petrozavodsk, Syktyvkar, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Ryazan, Volgograd, Tyumen, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Chekhov, Saratov, Norilsk, etc.). Ophthalmologists from Turkey, India, Bulgaria, Great Britain, China, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, as well as post-Soviet countries - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine - could join the virtual conference and ask questions via chat rooms. Ophthalmologists from Ufa and the Republic of Bashkortostan were present in the conference hall of Ufa Eye Research Institute.

         The opening session was adressed by Prof. Bikbov, Director of Ufa Eye Research Institute, who declared the Conference officially open at the end of his statement.

         The conference consisted of two parts. The first part was organized and conducted by young scientists of the Institute, who participated in the conference both as speakers and moderators. They presented about 30 reports covering almost all aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of myopia, which is often called the "plague of the twentieth century". It should be especially noted that one of the sessions was held entirely in English, and young scientists and doctors of Ufa Eye Research Institute, as well as from eye clinics in Turkey, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, presented their reports.

The scientific program of the main part of the conference was also very rich. Despite the difficult epidemiological situation in the world, speakers from Germany, Turkey and Azerbaijan took part in the conference. Prof. Jost Jonas of Department of Ophthalmology, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg (Germany) made a presentation on epidemiology and associated factors of myopia; pathological myopia and prevention of myopia and its progression. Prof. Wolf Lagreze, Head of Section for Neuroophthalmology and Pediatric ophthalmology, University Eye Hospital Freiburg (Germany) spoke about  treatment of progressive myopia in children. Theoretical aspects of the development and progression of myopia were highlighted by Frank Schafel, Professor of Neurobiology of the Eye, Ophthalmic Research Institute University of Tuebingen (Germany), Head of the Myopia Research Group at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Opthalmology (IOB) in Basel (Switzerland). Shruti Nishant, ophthalmologist of the Eye Hospital, (Chennai, India), shared her experience of using low doses of atropine to slow the progression of myopia. Prof. Levent Karabaş, Head of Eye Diseases Department of Kocaeli University and Prof. Faik Orucoglu, Ophthalmic Surgeon of Birinci Ophthalmological Clinic presented the results of surgical treatment of patients with myopia. Timur R. Gilmanshin, M.D., Head of Macular Pathology  Laboratory of Ufa Eye Research Institute, highlighted the problem of myopic maculopathy, relying on the results of the population-based study "Ural Eye and Medical Study" conducted by the staff of the Institute.

         A satellite session dedicated to the treatment of patients with a combination of myopia and glaucoma was also held during the conference. Prof. Alexei Slonimsky (Moscow) and Alexei Antonov, M.D., (Moscow) shared their experience in treating this category of patients.

Thus, the conference with international participation dedicated to myopia was held at a decent level, as evidenced by numerous listeners from different countries. Substantial reports and large-scale studies of famous scientists gave every ophthalmologist the opportunity to learn something new and useful for their practical activities. Virtual events allow any doctor, without leaving his office, to hear about the latest achievements of ophthalmology in order to improve their practice when restoring or preserving patients' vision.