Is there a waitlist for the next LidSUMMIT?

Yes. The next edition is planned in Innsbruck about six months after LidSUMMIT Tirol 2026 (spring 2027). Waitlist members receive the booking link 48 hours before the public launch. Registration on the waitlist is free and non-binding.

Will the LidSUMMIT programme change?

The format stays: hands-on training on real human anatomy at the Institute of Anatomy, Medical University Innsbruck, combined with validated 3D-printed models and two surgeons per station. The topics are decided together with the waitlist. Lacrimal surgery (DCR) and orbital trauma, including war-related injuries, are new candidates.

Can my clinic reserve several LidSUMMIT seats?

Yes. Join the waitlist and mention the number of seats in the comment field. Clinic packages are offered before the public launch.

What does LidSUMMIT cost?

Pricing follows the structure of Tirol 2026 with early, regular and late tiers. Waitlist members always get access to the earliest tier.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Kuchar

Post

8 Oct

Written By David Ortner

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Kuchar, oculoplastic and lacrimal surgeon at the Medical University of Vienna, Lid Summit faculty member

Some surgeons follow a field. Others help build it. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Kuchar belongs to the second group: for more than three decades he has worked at the centre of Austrian oculoplastic and lacrimal surgery, from the early days of endoscopic tear duct surgery in Vienna to long-term outcome studies on eyelid tumour excision published in 2025.

He is Deputy Head of Ophthalmic Oncology and Oculoplastic Surgery at the Department of Ophthalmology and Optometry of the Medical University of Vienna (Vienna General Hospital, AKH) and runs his private practice Auge & Laser in Vienna. His clinical spectrum covers cataract surgery, refractive correction, eyelid surgery and lacrimal duct surgery.

At the Lid Summit, he teaches across all three days: in the corneal sessions on Day 1, as a station tutor on the hands-on days, and with a lecture on lower eyelid anatomy.

Lacrimal Surgery: A Research Career Built on the Tear Duct

Prof. Kuchar's academic work began in dacryology, the surgery of the tear drainage system, as part of the Vienna group around Prof. Franz Josef Steinkogler that shaped modern lacrimal surgery in Austria.

His early publications read like a timeline of how the field moved towards less invasive techniques:

Endoscopic laser recanalisation of presaccal canalicular obstruction (British Journal of Ophthalmology, 1999)
Antegrade balloon dilatation of nasolacrimal duct obstruction in adults (British Journal of Ophthalmology, 2001)
Bacteriology and antibiotic therapy in congenital nasolacrimal duct obstruction (Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica, 2000)

In 2015 he served as guest editor of an oculoplastic issue of Spektrum der Augenheilkunde, written by members of the oculoplastic commission of the Austrian Ophthalmological Society (ÖOG), and contributed his own article on the history and current indications of lacrimal duct surgery.

"You cannot separate the eyelid from the tear duct. Every change you make to the lid margin or the medial canthus changes how tears drain. The best eyelid surgeons think about both systems at the same time."
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Kuchar

Eyelid Tumours: 25 Years of Follow-Up

Few surgeons can show long-term results across a quarter of a century on the same question. Prof. Kuchar can.

In 1999 he co-authored "Long-term results after surgical basal cell carcinoma excision in the eyelid region" in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. In 2025 the Vienna oculoplastic group, again including Prof. Kuchar and fellow Lid Summit faculty member Univ.-Prof. Dr. Birgit Lackner, published the follow-up study "Long-term results after surgical basal cell carcinoma excision in the eyelid region: revisited" in the Wiener klinische Wochenschrift.

His oncology work extends beyond skin tumours. Together with haemato-oncologists in Vienna he co-authored a 60-patient series on MALT lymphoma of the ocular adnexa (PLoS One, 2014) and a report on clarithromycin as first-line treatment for this lymphoma (Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2015). For eyelid surgeons, this is a reminder that not every periocular mass is what it first appears to be.

From Ptosis to Blepharoplasty

His surgical research also covers the core procedures of functional and aesthetic eyelid surgery. As early as 1993 he co-authored a description of a Gore-Tex frontalis suspension technique for congenital ptosis and blepharophimosis-ptosis syndrome in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, a topic that remains directly relevant to the frontalis sling stations at the Lid Summit.

More recently, he was part of a randomised, patient-blinded pilot study comparing two suturing techniques in blepharoplasty, using the FACE-Q patient-reported outcome instrument (Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2023). The question behind it is a very practical one: does the way we close the skin change what the patient sees and feels afterwards?

A Bridge Between Cornea and Oculoplastics

What makes Prof. Kuchar unusual is his breadth. Alongside oculoplastics, he has a long track record in anterior segment and refractive surgery, including research on how LASIK and LASEK influence patients' reading performance (Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, 2005).

That is why he teaches in both worlds at the Lid Summit. On Day 1 he joins the corneal faculty; on Days 2 and 3 he supervises participants at the eyelid stations and gives the lecture on lower eyelid anatomy, the foundation for everything from ectropion repair to the tarsal strip.

Why Prof. Kuchar Belongs at the Lid Summit

The Lid Summit is built on a simple idea: participants should learn eyelid surgery from the people who actually define it. Prof. Kuchar is a long-standing member of the ÖOG commission for oculoplastic surgery, alongside fellow faculty members Prof. Birgit Lackner, PD Dr. Angelika Klein-Theyer and Prim. Priv.-Doz. Dr. Martin Emesz.

He brings three things that are hard to find in one person: decades of lacrimal surgery, long-term data on eyelid tumour surgery, and daily experience in cataract and refractive surgery. For participants working on M.A.R.K.O. LID models and specially preserved human specimens, this means guidance from someone who sees the whole eye, not just the lid.

Conclusion

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Kuchar stands for continuity in Austrian oculoplastic surgery: from the endoscopic tear duct techniques of the 1990s to the outcome research of today. At the Lid Summit, he connects the cornea and the eyelid, and anatomy with surgical decision-making.

👉 Learn more about the Lid Summit