It was a week end full of events, meetings and opportunities to share expertise and experiences the one we spent in Paris from the 24th to the 26th of August 2018.

The 4th European Conference on Aniridia, gathering more than 70 professionals and more than 130 patients, was a great opportunity to bring together experts in aniridia and people with aniridia. It contributed to strengthen the links between professionals and to push forward aniridia research.

The five sessions, focused on the genetics of aniridia, systemic deficiencies and syndromic aniridia, and on the ocular surface and cornea rehabilitation, showed a high scientific level of the speeches and made possible a fruitful debate among researchers and clinicians.

The sixth session, open to families, gave the patients the opportunity to ask questions to the professionals, and at the same time the possibility for doctors to get a better understanding of their patients’ needs.

Moreover, the afternoon before the conference, the meeting of the Scientific Committee of Aniridia Europe laid the foundations for future projects, such as the development of common European clinical guidelines on aniridia, as well as a research project on genotype-fenotype correlations.

Every European Conference on Aniridia has meant a step forward for a better knowledge on this rare disorder, the hope for a better care and a better quality of life for people with aniridia, and more chances for research, and the conference in Paris made no exception.

Aniridia Europe expresses its gratitude to prof. Dominique Brémond-Gignac, Ophtara (Reference Center for Rare Diseases in Ophthalmology, Paris), Gêniris and all its members, because without their huge work and dedication over the past two years these results would not have been possible.

We look forward to meeting again in the UK in 2020!