OSO 2018 – Part 2

Discover part 2 of the latest news from the biennial Orthokeratology Society of Oceania (OSO) conference 2018.

OSO 2018 – Part 1

Discover the highlights from the biennial Orthokeratology Society of Oceania conference covering OrthoK and myopia control research and practice.

Kids, contact lenses, dry eye and binocular vision

Only a minimal percentage of children are likely to suffer dry eye symptoms (4%) compared to 56% in adult contact lens wearers.(1) Teens may be more likely to report contact lens related dry eye than younger children,(2) and consideration should be given to any systemic medications which could exacerbate dry eye symptoms, such as acne medications and those taken for anxiety and depression.

What about the exophores?

While esophoria and myopia have a long-associated link,(1-3) exophoria must also be on our myopia management agenda. The punchline, up front – research has shown that of kids with intermittent exotropia, 50% are myopic by age 10 and 90% are myopic by age 20,(4) and we need to be extra wary if considering fitting a myopic child like this into contact lenses.

The esophoric myope and contact lenses

When it comes to contact lens corrections for young myopes, the impact of orthokeratology (OK) and multifocal soft contact lenses (MFSCL) on binocular vision is pertinent to visual comfort and understanding mechanisms of myopia progression and control.

Eight Myopia Mysteries (plus eight more!)

This article groups common clinical treatments in an effort to explore what we do and don’t know regarding myopia control efficacy. It highlights the need to balance the available evidence with emerging knowledge when discussing options for myopia control with patients and their carers.

Contact lenses for kids – paediatric, parent and practitioner psychology

When selecting an optical treatment for myopia management, contact lens options appear to be the most consistent, with OrthoK and multifocal soft contact lenses offering around a 50% efficacy for controlling refractive and axial change in myopia.1 And it’s not just the important benefit of modifying lifelong risk of vision impairment through successful myopia control which should be top of mind – contact lens wear for myopic children can offer significant immediate benefits to their self-perception and satisfaction with vision correction.

Contact lens safety in kids

A key barrier to contact lens wear in children is parental and practitioner concern about safety. The research indicates, though, that children may be the safest contact lens wearers – here we describe the statistics and how to approach clinical communication.

ARVO 2018 – Part 2

With over 10,000 attendees and thousands of research posters, papers and symposiums presented over 5 days, it was a mind blowing nerdy extravaganza. Here are a bunch of cutting edge research pieces which I posted to the Myopia Profile Facebook group at the time.

International Myopia Conference 2017 Part 1

The session topics covered prevalence, progression and risk factors of myopia, mechanisms such as light exposure and visual pathways, optical and pharmacological methods of myopia control, genetics, clinical trial considerations, myopic eye shape and accommodation and binocularity.