Panelists: Myopia management will continue to grow
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
WASHINGTON — Optometrists must learn about myopia management and discuss it with parents, according to clinicians participating in a panel discussion at Optometry’s Meeting.
“It’s going to be a big part of our practice,” David Holler, OD, of Clarity Vision in Apex, North Carolina, said.
Holler took part in a roundtable discussion involving clinicians who were identified as “Best Practices” in CooperVision’s annual initiative to recognize optometrists who are committed to advancing the profession and providing exceptional patient care, according to a CooperVision press release. A student scholarship component facilitates recipients learning from doctor honorees.
“Myopia management is huge,” Holler said. “Kids are coming in with blue light glasses they got online. It swept through social media, and every mom on Facebook got them for their kids. Moving forward with myopia management, we’re going to have the most impact discussing it with the mom and dad.”
“The easiest myopia management conversation is to talk to myopic parents during their eye exam,” Jennifer Lyerly, OD, of TrueVision Eye Care in North Carolina, said. “Tell them, ‘When we were kids, we just kept getting worse. You can keep your child from this happening to them.’”
Holler added, “Other local docs are not wanting to offer this, so I’m happy to take their referrals.”
Tricia Brenner, OD, of Hellerstein & Brenner Vision Center in Greenwood Village, Colorado, believes the situation is shifting, “now that there’s a contact lens out there to help. It’s turned around 100%.”
Mary Hoang, OD, of South Bay Family Eye in Long Beach, California, agreed, also citing potential FDA approval of atropine for myopia control and spectacle lenses in clinical trials.
“The owner of my practice is a pediatric ophthalmologist, and he’s been using atropine for years,” Hoang said.
Holler said more optometrists need to get involved with the clinical trials.
“I think there’s still resistance,” Megan Lott, OD, of Belle Vue Specialty Eye Care in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, said. “People get comfortable in their routine. I don’t know if primary eye care really focuses on this yet. Ophthalmologists aren’t doing it either.”
Janet Wilson, OD, FCOVD, of Bella Vision in Spartanburg, South Carolina, said, “I get a lot of negative feedback because it’s not clinically proven. Some say myopia control falls along the lines of vision therapy.
“In myopia control and rehabilitation, I give patients their best options,” she continued. “It comes down to communication. We have to do a better job with our students.”
DeAmbra Boucher, OD, who practices at National Vision in Blue Springs, Missouri, said she is seeing young optometrists coming out of college with little experience with contact lenses.
Makayla Harr, a student at the University of Pikeville Kentucky College of Optometry, said while optometry schools are “pushing more medical right now,” she has learned how to prescribe CooperVision’s MiSight daily disposable contact lens.
“But I want more experience in the field,” she added.
Zachary Holland, OD, of the Cornea and Contact Lens Institute of Minnesota in Edina, said one issue is the lack of reimbursement for axial measurements, which are necessary for myopia management.
“We need to force industry to come up with cheaper tests to collect this information,” Holland said.
On the other end of the spectrum, the panelists said the aging population will also provide significant growth opportunities for clinical optometric practice.
“There aren’t enough low vision optometrists [for the aging population],” Kelly Scherer, OD, of The Chicago Lighthouse, said.
Lyerly agreed that there are many opportunities in this area of practice.
exams that we’ll need to provide, more dry eye, cataract, retinal care,” Lyerly said. “We have to be prepared for this influx of medical need. The youngest millennials are turning 40 now, but in 10 years the majority of them will be 40, and early presbyopia care will be impacting our practice.”
The panel concluded by discussing advocacy and disruptive forces in the profession.
Lott said she made the decision to switch her focus to pediatric vision therapy.
“I’m the only one doing this in Mississippi,” she said. “I don’t have to deal with insurance. I don’t have to deal with telehealth. I have to do this in person. Being able to find those niches to be passionate about is what will keep optometry alive.”
Lynn Hellerstein, OD, of Hellerstein & Brenner Vision Center, has also found a niche in vision therapy.
“Have students come into your practice and see what you do,” she said. “In school, they don’t get to see any vision therapy patients from start to finish.”
Lyerly said those who choose a specialty can “drop insurance plans, and we’re still growing.”
The participants also supported advocacy.
“Our job is to educate our legislators,” Wilson said. “We’re a legislated profession. There will always be someone who wants to do what we do. We have to preserve what we have.”
“Some of us are intimidated by our legislators,” Lott said. “They’re regular people. They don’t know what optometry is.”
Holland said, “I’m a fan of a bill that puts what optometry does in our own hands. That will be the future of optometry.”
Scherer said that advocacy is not just about scope of practice.
“We need more providers.”
Reference:
- CooperVision unveils 2023 Best Practices honorees and student scholarship recipients. https://coopervision.com/practitioner/ecp-viewpoints/best-practices/coopervision-unveils-2023-best-practices-honorees-and. Published March 21, 2023.
Collapse
Press Conference
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts