Dr.Mai with colleague and friend Dr. Kent Nguyen
Myopia Control Growing in Popularity Amongst Mainstream Optometrists!
Dr. Mai here.
I went to a fantastic eyecare conference yesterday with the Orange County Optometric Society. While I have been practicing myopia control for years, I was happy to see a mainstream lecture on the topic presented to an entire audience of optometrists from all modalities and with varying degrees of experience.
It was wonderful to see many other optometrists excited about to learn that myopia is more of a “disease” than previously thought. Myopia, or nearsightedness, causing blurry vision for objects at a distance. Most of know this. We correct it with glasses, contacts, or eye surgery and with amazing accuracy and results. But it is much more sinister than that.
High myopia causes exponential increased risk for eye diseases such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, and retinal detachments. Its prevalence is rapidly increasing and data suggests that our lack of outdoor activity may be one of the root causes. Parents usually nod their heads when I talk to them about this, and glued their kids are to digital devices (they lament how many hours their kids spend on youtube).
The good news is that there are several things we can do about myopia progression. Our office offers custom orthokeratology, bifocal contact lenses, and pharmaceutical methods such as atropine to halt the progression. Every patient is different, so we encourage you to schedule a myopia control conference at our clinic to discuss what is best for you!
Come visit our Orange County optometry practice in Costa Mesa!
