Moorfields DMEK wet lab

DMEK (Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty) is currently the most common technique of corneal transplantation, with Moorfields Eye Hospital currently performing the largest number of DMEK surgeries in Europe.

This wet lab, delivered by Moorfields corneal surgeons, will provide hands-on experience using human corneas to fellows and consultants who wish to start performing DMEK or to improve their current surgical skills.

Overview

The Moorfields DMEK wet lab is aimed at corneal specialists who wish to start performing this operation or to improve their surgical skills. Our purpose is to allow participants to acquire basic skills and familiarise with the “DMEK Moorfields standard technique” before operating on real patients. We will provide hands-on real experience using human corneas and personalised instruction by Moorfields corneal consultants, who have extensive experience in DMEK and have expanded the indications of this technique to complex cases.

We expect participants to familiarise with the different key steps of the technique and improve confidence level in their performance. The wet lab will replicate real conditions for donor preparation, marking the graft and loading, insertion and techniques for unfolding the graft in the anterior chamber.

Moorfields corneal consultants will provide surgical training but will also deliver video presentations highlighting essential points and recommendations for every step of the surgery as well as additional lectures regarding preventing and treating complications.

Who is this course for?

This course is intended for fellows and consultants who wish to start performing DMEK or to improve their current surgical skills.

Please note that due to the practical nature of the course, a maximum of 20 places are available.

CPD Certification

CPD points will be applied for and certificate of attendance will be awarded at the end of the course.

Your course tutors

The instructors for the wet lab will be experienced DMEK Moorfields corneal consultants:

  • Alfonso Vasquez-Perez (course director).
  • Bruce Allan.
  • Daniel Sibley.
  • Mark Wilkins.
  • Martin Watson.
  • Nicola Lau.
  • Sajjad Ahmad.
  • Vincenzo Maurino.
Course supporters

We are grateful for the support of Thea Pharmaceuticals, Altomed and BVI Medical in running this course.


 
 
 

 

Next course date

The next DMEK wet lab will take place on 10 October 2025. Please join the waiting list to be notified when bookings open.

 
£800.00
 
 
Join Waiting List
 
 
Start Date
Duration One day
 
 

Course fees

 

This was one of the highest quality courses I have done. The talks were really relevant and well delivered. The venue and wet lab was exceptional.

Anonymous delegate, October 2023.

Taught by

 

Alfonso Vasquez-Perez

Alfonso Vasquez-Perez is a consultant at Moorfields Eye Hospital and is the lead for the Osteo-Odonto-keratoprosthesis (OOKP) Service; a highly specialised treatment for corneal blindness provided only in few centres around the world. His areas of expertise includes corneal surgery, keratoprosthesis (KPro), cataracts and refractive surgery. He took his initial training in Barcelona and later he completed two advanced sub-specialist training fellowships in Cornea and Refractive Surgery in the UK, first in Brighton and then at Moorfields Eye Hospital. He was awarded the Certificate in Laser Refractive Surgery (CertLRS) and he is one of the few UK surgeons who also obtained the Certification in Cataract and Refractive Surgery from The European Board of Ophthalmology (FEBOS-CR). As a consultant surgeon at Moorfields has trained many surgical fellows from the UK and all over the world and frequently present his research work in national and international conferences. His publications include 3 book chapter and over 40 articles in ophthalmic journals.

Bruce Allan

Professor Bruce Allan qualified in medicine from Cambridge in 1985, and was appointed as a Consultant Surgeon at Moorfields in 1998 after advanced specialist training in the UK, South Africa, and Australia. He was Training Director for the Corneal Service at Moorfields for over 10 years, and Service Director for Refractive Surgery from 2012 to 2019. He is currently chairing the Royal College of Ophthalmologists Refractive Surgery Standards Working Group and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) Digital Health Special Interest Group. He is an ESCRS Council and EU Cornea board member. He and his wife, Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Maria Teresa Casasus Borrell, live in North London with regular visits from their 3 daughters, Saskia, Sofia and Silvia. Outside work, He is a keen football fan and sailor. Professional activities include: • NHS practice specialising in cataract and corneal surgery • Private practice specialising in refractive surgery (laser vision correction, ICL implantation, RLE, restoring near vision) • Regular presentations at international research meetings, press, radio and television comment on developments in corneal transplantation, cataract and refractive surgery • Peer review for international medical journals and research grant funding bodies • Specialist advice for NICE and MHRA Current research interests include: • Applications of Deep Learning to anterior segment eye disease • Enhancing treatment accuracy in laser vision correction • Laser assisted corneal transplantation • Early intervention and visual rehabilitation in keratoconus

 
 

Sajjad Ahmed

Sajjad Ahmad is a Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon and the Lead for Experimental Medicine at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK. His expertise is in corneal and external eye diseases, particularly inflammatory ocular surface disorders and ocular surface reconstruction. He holds an honorary Associate Clinical Professor position at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, where he runs a laboratory group focusing on corneal stem cell biology and the development of cellular therapies for the eye. Dr Ahmad’s research also investigates translational medicine, analysing drugs, cell therapies and surgical devices for the eye through the regulatory pathway to first-in-human or first-in-eye clinical trials. He is currently running two Phase 1 clinical trials, including a Medical Research Council-funded trial. He is an Ophthalmic Advisor to the European Medicines Agency and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). He also works with the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) to evaluate ophthalmic therapies for National Health Service (NHS) application.

Vincenzo Maurino

Vincenzo Maurino is an Italian-British ophthalmologist who is a Senior Consultant Ophthalmologist and Director of the Cataract Services at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. He is also Visiting Professor for Corneal and Refractive surgery at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. His special areas of specialist interests are cataract surgery and corneal surgery as well as refractive surgery. He graduated with magna cum laude in Italy and after a four-year ophthalmology residency, he won a scholarship to move to London to further his surgical ophthalmic training at the world-renowned Moorfields Eye Hospital. At Moorfields Eye Hospital he completed fellowships in paediatric ophthalmology, glaucoma, cataract, refractive surgery, and corneal transplant surgery. Vincenzo Maurino research interests are in the fields of cataract and corneal refractive surgery, and he has published in several peer reviewed international journals. He has been invited to lectures nationally and internationally. He served on the scientific committee of the Italian Society of Ophthalmology (SOI) for longer than a decade and on the board of the SICCSO (The International Society of Corneal, Stem Cells and Ocular Surface). He was awarded the SOI Medal Lecture in 2016 and invited to give the Cataract Update Lecture at the RANZO Congress in 2023 to mention few. He received the title of Officer of the Order of “The Star of Italy” by Mr Sergio Mattarella, the President of Italy, in 2015. He is passionate about surgical training and has trained hundreds of eye surgeons from all over the world in cataract and corneal surgery and he regularly holds training surgical courses nationally and abroad. Outside work, he enjoys sport and especially running, tennis and skying. Professional activities include NHS practice specialising in cataract, refractive and corneal surgery. Private practice specialising in refractive surgery (laser vision correction, ICL implantation, lens surgery), cataract surgery and corneal graft surgery.

 

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