Yari Mitchell has questions for Marguerite B. McDonald, MD: Innovations for an innovator

Editor's note: This is an automatically generated transcript, which has been slightly edited for clarity. Please notify editor@healio.com if there are concerns regarding accuracy of the transcription.

Hi, I'm Yari and I have questions. And I'm here with the amazing Dr. Marguerite McDonald and she has answers. Let’s see if they match! Hi Marguerite, thank you for being here.

Hi Yari, my pleasure.

Aw, it's so great to see you. I don't know if you know this, but for so long, I've been so inspired by you. You were one of the first ophthalmologists that I got to work with back in the beginning of my career, so it's just such a pleasure to have you here with me today, so thank you for everything you've done.

Oh, thank you. It was my honor to do that.

Aw, so sweet. So, you've had so much innovation that you personally had your hand in developing and really, to see it come to market. I'm curious; What have you integrated into your practice recently that you are excited about?

Well, we are in a clinical trial for Opti-K.

Okay.

Opti-K uses the thulium laser to make a ring of small treatment spots in the mid-peripheral cornea, and it gives people excellent near vision without altering their distance vision for about a year. And it's been used for almost 12 years outside the U.S. The clinical trial has started in the U.S. And we're used to Botox now, we're used to filler, we're used to things that need to be repeated; if you don't like it, you don't get it touched up. But it can be touched up an infinite number of times—there are people outside the U.S. who have gotten it every six to twelve months for six to twelve times.

Wow.

- So, I'm really excited about that.

- Yeah, nice. Where is it in the regulatory process?

- It's at the beginning of phase 3 of clinical trials.

That's exciting. Very exciting. So, what about in your practice today? What are you excited about today? What gets you up in the morning for helping patients with their vision care problems?

I'm excited about the new things in the dry eyes space, including Meibo. Meibo has really helped me a lot. It's fantastic for evaporative dry eye and most of the patients who are on it can cut back or eliminate their artificial tears which are very costly. You know, The unit dose preservative free tears in particular are extremely expensive so it stabilizes the tear film, it's comfortable, nobody complains about burning or stinging. It’s been a huge addition to the armamentarium.

Oh, that's fantastic. So, I'm curious about your perceptions on something that's a huge buzzword right now with technology. You might be able to guess: AI. You know, what's your take on how AI is going to impact care delivery for patients, and maybe impact your decision making around care for patients? What’s your take?

I think it will only help us and we've been using AI for years, you know? Topography maps will tell you "This is abnormal, this is keratoconus, this is a 50% chance of keratoconus, etc." You get a Zeiss Humphrey visual field and it interprets as abnormal, not normal, etc. When you get an OCT of the retinal nerve fiber layer you get an interpretation: normal, borderline, etc. So, we've had AI for a very long time and I can only think it will help us further.

Yeah. It's very exciting, I think, to hear about the ways that it can help with advanced and earlier intervention, in providing patient care, better observation, treatment effectiveness, or patient compliance, even.

Exactly.

I think it'll change the way surgery or care is provided.

Yeah, and as you said, early detection—earlier detection, like any disease in the world, the earlier you detect it and start treating, the better your chances of success.

Fantastic. So, I’ve got some wildcard questions for you, so hopefully this is okay. So very curious, what do you listen to in the OR, music wise? What's your go-to music of choice to support your surgery days?

My OR is quiet as a tomb.

Interesting.

And the reason is … I love music, I was in a band once, but part of your brain is listening to the music and saying—Instead of concentrating on the surgery, part of your brain is saying, "Oh, that was the last dance at my prom, I wonder where Tommy is now?" There's a part of your brain doing that. Or, "The Toyotathon's about to end, I better get down there and get a car!" I don't want anything distracting me and I apologize to everybody, all the nurses, I say, "We're turning it off."

Hey, look, you're the surgeon. Well, I love it. So, and this is probably the most important question I'll ask you today: If you were an ice cream flavor, what would you be, and why?

It would be rum raisin.

Nice! Nice.

Because it's sweet and nutty all at the same time.

- Fantastic. I love it. I love it. I appreciate it, Marguerite. Thank you for sharing.

My great pleasure. Thank you, Yari.

Yes, all right. Well, thank you. I think Marguerite did a great job answering my questions, they definitely seemed to match. Let me know what you think. Thank you!