Welcome to the premiere issue of Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today Europe. This bimonthly publication will strive to provide European cataract and refractive surgeons a new medium that gives a fresh perspective to the field of cataract and refractive surgery in Europe.

Growing out of Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today, a publication presenting cutting-edge surgical technologies, techniques and philosophies to ophthalmologists since 2001, CRSToday Europe will build upon a proven, winning formula. We will pack our issues with surgical developments and innovations available in Europe, as well as provide a forum for discussion and a resource for cataract and refractive breakthroughs. Along with cochief medical editor Sheraz M. Daya, MD, FRCS(Ed), a leading surgeon in the United Kingdom, the staff of CRSToday Europe looks forward to becoming your chosen ophthalmology resource. Our editorial and global advisory boards will guide this publication on its journey to providing you with information you can use to not only strengthen your practice, but to improve upon your patient outcomes.

Cataract surgery is fast becoming refractive surgery. And as such, it is our duty to provide patients with the highest level of medical care possible. To that end, we will bring our readers the latest news and research from the most respected surgeons in Europe and across the globe.

Scientific knowledge is now spreading quickly across the borders. There is a need, however, for a European-focused cataract and refractive surgery publicaton due to specificities related to our market, including the ever-increasing range of regulations, products and companies.

We will keep you on the forefront of all available technology, from microincision phacoemulsification and presbyopia-correcting IOLs, to the newest developments in laser refractive surgery.

We are excited to bring you this premiere issue with a cover focus on new-technology IOLs. During a roundtable discussion we held at the American Academy of Ophthalmology 2005 Annual Meeting in Chicago, a panel of expert cataract and refractive surgeons weighed in on the best way to use new-technology IOLs to maximize patient outcomes. This stellar panel included Thomas Kohnen, MD; Richard L Lindstrom, MD; David F. Chang, MD; Stephen S. Lane, MD; Frank A. Bucci Jr, MD; Louis "Skip" Nichamin, MD; and Mark Packer, MD. Complementing the content of the roundtable, sidebar authors H. Burkhard Dick, MD; Ann Haustermans, MD; Warren E, Hill, MD; Francescor Carones, MD; Manfred R. Tetz, MD; and Louis "Skip" Nichamin, MD, report on several IOL technologies available in the European market.

In the cataract surgery section, I. Howard Fine, MD; Jorge Alió, MD, PhD; and Brian Little, MA, DO, FRCS, FRCOphth, discuss the pros and cons of bimanual phacoemulsification. Also included in the premiere issue is an update on the the latest developments in intraoperative floppy iris syndrome that has been seen with tamulosin, a drug that has been on the European market for quite some time.
Turning our attention to refractive surgery, we have included articles on complicated cases and patient selection in LASIK. We also begin an ongoing feature "Tackling World Blindness." The peer-reviewed literature column spotlights epi-LASIK in this first issue.

It is our goal to become one major source of information in the field of cataract and refractive surgery for European surgeons who are forward-thinking and committed to providing the absolute best care for every patient.