Kate Gifford 
There are numerous reasons why contact lenses are beneficial for children, and the safety profile is high. Yet there are still barriers in the mind of the practitioner, parent and young patient to childhood CL wear. Here we address these often cited barriers, with the goal to support your clinical communication on the benefits and safety of contact lenses for kids, to move towards achieving a ‘yes’ from the parent and patient.
Axial length (AXL) has been well established as the critical measurement in myopia control research. The measurement accuracy and link to disease risk make AXL increasingly important in a clinical setting. But what else should we measure in the myopic eye? Does the cornea change as well? Will we end up doing away with refraction? Read more on measuring the whole eye in myopia.
The intensely practical, three hour online course Contact Lenses for Kids is designed to increase practitioner knowledge, skills and confidence in fitting children with contact lenses, for all reasons (not just myopia control), and especially for children 12 years and under. It also provides actionable tools for clinical practice. This course is now accredited for continuing education credits in several countries.
Clinical interest and questions on measurement of axial length in myopia management has grown 470% from mid-2019 to mid-2020 and another 35% in the last half of 2020, according to Myopia Profile and OCULUS. While axial length is not yet a widespread component of clinical myopia management, enormous expansion in interest is evident amongst eye care professionals, leading to a new, high level educational partnership between Myopia Profile and OCULUS.
How can you tell if your myopia management strategy has been a success? Our new Myopia Profile ‘Managing Myopia Guidelines’ infographics translate research into practice, providing advice on gauging success by both refraction and axial length outcomes. Given that refraction is universally measured in clinical myopia practice, there is particular emphasis on understanding how much refraction change after a year of treatment indicates whether expected efficacy for that intervention has been attained.
Johnson & Johnson Vision announce their new guide to assess, monitor and treat childhood myopia, a collaboration with the American Optometric Association (AOA), American Academy of Optometry (AAO), Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) and Singapore Optometric Association (SOA).
The innovative, comprehensive online course Orthokeratology Fundamentals is now accredited for continuing education credits in several countries. This course enables the new orthokeratology fitter to upskill on their own time schedule in a guided process.
Assessing accommodative function, such as measuring near lag of accommodation, is a vital component of understanding the myopia profile of your patient. In this post Dr Kate Gifford describes how to measure accommodation lag in practice.
Myopia Profile has launched a brand new, comprehensive three-hour course to give eye care practitioners the foundational knowledge and practical skills to fit more children with contact lenses. The key driver of this course is to increase eye care practitioner confidence in fitting children, aged 12 and under, with contact lenses – but is relevant for fitting teens as well. Enrolment in the first module is free.
Orthokeratology is designed to achieve slight over-correction so the optical treatment will last all day. How much overcorrection is ideal to achieve good vision throughout the day while achieving good visual performance?
