Highly recognised and well known geneticists and ophthalmologists from different European countries met to unify criteria about the diagnosis and treatment on Aniridia  
 
In this meeting that took place in Mallorca, May the 2nd 2008, the Spanish” Protocol for the management of patients with Aniridia”, introduced by the Minister of Health, Bernat Soria, was presented 
 
 
Aiming at exchanging the isolated experiences in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with aniridia, the last scientific advances, findings investigations, clinical trials, the Spanish Aniridia Association brought together the best experts in this unfrequent  ocular  and  genetic  disease.  Several  initiatives  in  the  different countries,  such  as  epidemiological  studies  and  registries  in  the  Norhern countries  and  genetic  screening  in  England  and  France,  as  well  as  the experience  of  the  Centre  of  Reference  for  rare  ocular  diseases  in  France together  with  some  interesting  Italian  clinical  results..  were  put  in  common. 
Sharing  there  knowledge,  meeting  other  experts  on  aniridia  was  considered very  positive  by  all  the  participants  and  encouraged  them to develop a future common  and  consented  European  protocol  for  this  diseases  and  summit  a project to the European Commission. 
 
Because  of  the  scattered  patients  with  this  low  prevalence  diseases  and scattered  and  poor  professional  experience,  and  due  to  the  diverse  ocular alterations associated to this disease, this meeting was essential to unify criteria for the treatment of these patients, prevent repeated trials and share results so that they could learn from each other and step forward. 
 
The Spanish protocol for the management of patients with Aniridia, written by the  most  prestigious  Spanish  ophthalmologists  will  be  presented  at  the  next Congress of the Spanish Ophthalmologic Society in Sevilla, September 2008, This  will  be  the  base  to  develop  a  European  one,  once  it  is  translated  into English and assessed by the other participants in the meeting, who will to meet again in 2009. 
 
Aniridia associations form different European countries also participated in the meeting  in  Mallorca:  Italy,  Norway  and  France.  They  established  a  European network  of  patients  with  Aniridia.  All  of  them  are  fostering  research,  raising awareness on the diseases and supporting families and affected people in order to improve their quality of life. 
 
“We have many expectations on the protocol. We hope that from now, Aniridia will  go  out  of  the  darkness.  With  the  dissemination  of  this  guidelines  to  all ophthalmologists  in  Spain, every patient with Aniridia will be better diagnosed and will receive the best and last treatment, so that degeneration is prevented, visual  acuity  better  preserved,  as  well  as  unnecessary  and  wrong  surgeries avoided”,  as  Yolanda  Asenjo,  president  of  the  Spanish  Aniridia  Association stated.