Amplifying their dedication to advancing myopia management as standard of care worldwide, CooperVision and the World Council of Optometry (WCO) have committed to a second year of their partnership. A pioneering myopia management standard of care resolution, a multilingual online learning resource for eye care professionals (ECPs), and a virtual event that drew interest from more than 100 countries and more than 1,200 ECPs are among early achievements that have laid the foundation for the year ahead.

“Armed with the growing amount of data and clinical resources, the eye care industry must act now to address the rising prevalence and severity of childhood myopia,” said Elizabeth Lumb, BSc (Hons) MCOptom, FBCLA, CooperVision Director of Global Professional Affairs, Myopia Management. “Alongside the World Council of Optometry, we invite and encourage ECPs worldwide to mitigate, measure and manage children at risk of becoming myopic alongside those who already are.”  

Planning is now underway by CooperVision and WCO for a new series of clinical education resources and initiatives in the coming months, extending the partnership’s first-year successes.

In 2021, the World Council of Optometry board of directors unanimously approved a standard of care resolution advising optometrists to incorporate myopia management in their practices. Earlier this year, the Canadian Association of Optometry subsequently endorsed the standard of care resolution; other country-specific professional bodies are considering the same.

Building on the resolution, WCO and CooperVision jointly launched an online learning resource at myopia.worldcouncilofoptometry.info that provides multilingual assets and approaches that enable busy ECPs—regardless of location—to apply a myopia management standard of care.

Most recently, the “Myopia Management: Putting It into Practice” virtual education event was attended by more than 1,200 professionals located across 6 continents. Leading ECPs shared their perspectives on myopia management, including overcoming barriers and success stories. Event sessions are now available on demand here.

To stay up to date on CooperVision and WCO’s efforts, visit WCO’s myopia resource hub at https://myopia.worldcouncilofoptometry.info/.

Click HERE for the full press release.

Ahead of its live webinars for the eye care community, the Contact Lens Institute (CLI) shared additional findings from its recent research with nearly 1,000 U.S. adults who require vision correction. These include practice-building insights on significant opportunities with older patients, barriers to wear, and expectations for technological advancements.

The new data builds on a range of information made public earlier this month by the industry association as part of its See Tomorrow initiative (SeeTomorrowNow.com), which is designed to help practices understand and thrive as consumer beliefs and behaviors evolve. The research—and pearls on how to apply it for patient and practice success—will be explored in depth during CLI’s “Revealed!” webinars on May 3^rd at 6 pm EDT and 9 pm EDT. Free registration is now open for the earlier session and the later session here.

The latest discoveries include:

• Presbyopia remains a massive opportunity for the eye care community to increase value to patients—and practice growth—through contact lens fitting. Among all adults ages 55+, 67% use prescription glasses and 38% use reading glasses, but only 6% wear contact lenses. In the same age group, only 4% recall their eye care practitioner having discussed contact lenses as a potential alternative to readers during their last two office visits.
• Investment in myopia management education is breaking through. Vision-corrected parents of children under 18 are more than twice as likely to know that contact lenses that slow the progression of myopia are available today compared to parents of older children.

• Significant upside exists to inform patients about contact lenses that offer novel benefits. Only 5% of vision-corrected adults believe that lenses are available that administer drugs directly to the eye, and just 56% understand that coloured lenses are an option.

• Two of the top barriers to contact lens wear are addressable by eye care professionals. With 1 in 3 people (34%) stating they don’t wear contact lenses or use them more frequently because of comfort issues, practitioners should think about this from the initial fit; positive first impressions increase retention. Another 1 in 5 vision-corrected adults state they don’t wear contact lenses or use them more frequently because care is perceived to be difficult, yet CLI’s The EASY Way program and fast-growing options such as daily disposable lenses prove otherwise.
• Consumers see augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and fitness tracking-enabled contact lenes as rapidly moving from science fiction to commercial availability. Within the next five years, 24% of adults believe that AR/VR contacts will be available and 25% believe that health monitoring lenses will be obtainable—presenting practitioners with door opening opportunities to discuss the benefits of current contact lens technologies and benefits.

Click HERE for the full press release.

CORE announces the arrival of Dr. Alex Hui as their new Head of Biosciences. Dr. Hui completed his optometry training and PhD at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry & Vision Science and CORE. He is an author on more than 30 peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed publications and has been an invited speaker at conferences worldwide.

In addition to drug delivery systems, his research has been focused on ocular therapeutics, myopia control, and contact lenses. Dr. Hui is also an associate editor for Clinical and Experimental Optometry.

Dr. Chris Lorenco Nogueira is originally from Brazil and did her BSc and MSc in Pharmacy and PhD in Microbiology/Biotechnology. A substantial period of her scientific experience involves microbiology research including bacteriology, molecular epidemiology, taxonomy and diagnosis of infectious diseases.

In 2020, she did a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Marc Aucoin, studying the ability of contact lens solutions to kill various coronavirus strains, as well as their binding to CL materials. This project was in collaboration with Drs. Lyndon Jones and William Ngo.

Her work at CORE will be focused on microbiology and cell culture research and involve a continuation of coronavirus research and adenovirus research.

CORE announces that Dr. Stephanie Wong has joined the CORE team as a Clinical Associate. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy in Vision Science at the University of Waterloo and her Optometry degree at City University in England. During her PhD she designed and tested a new instrument to measure tear evaporation. The device was used to compare different contact lenses and to examine the effect of an artificial lubricant on people with and without dry eye. Most recently she was the clinic manager of a research group that conducted dry eye and soft contact lens trials. Her research interests include the diagnosis and management of dry eye and contact lens discomfort.

Source: CORE

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CooperVision has announced that its full portfolio of silicone hydrogel 1-day contact lenses is now net plastic neutral through credits we purchase from Plastic Bank in Canada, expanding the company’s leadership in sustainability and increasing the environmental impact of this trailblazing initiative. The MyDay^® daily disposable family now joins the clariti^® 1 day family, which was the first net plastic neutral contact lens in Canada. In the year since the venture began, the U.S. effort has already prevented the equivalent of more than 22 million plastic bottles from reaching the world’s oceans. Globally, the initiative’s impact has grown to a total of nearly 28 million plastic bottles.

CooperVision’s net plastic neutral initiative is made possible through a partnership with Plastic Bank, a social enterprise that builds ethical recycling ecosystems in coastal communities and reprocesses the materials for reintroduction into the global supply chain. For every box of clariti^® 1 day or MyDay^® distributed in Canada, CooperVision contributes to the collection, processing, and reuse of general plastic waste that is equal to the weight of the plastic contained in the lenses and packaging.Over the last year, thousands of eye care professionals and their patients have already contributed to the cause, simply by prescribing and wearing clariti^® 1 day.

“Many current and prospective contact lens wearers are invested in improving the environment, and they make conscious purchasing decisions based on those values,” said Michele Andrews, OD, Vice President, Professional & Government Affairs, Americas, CooperVision. “By expanding the CooperVision net plastic neutral initiative to include two full families of silicone hydrogel 1-day lenses, we’re providing eye care professionals and their patients more options—and greater opportunity—to make a difference.”

In a 2021 survey, 95% of Canadian contact lens wearers say being plastic neutral has a positive impact on their interest in trying a daily disposable lens. Similarly, 89% of Canadian contact lens wearers agree that having a sustainable, daily disposable contact lens would make them feel better about using daily disposable contact lenses.

“While net plastic neutrality is an unprecedented commitment in our industry, it is only one part of our holistic effort. We’ve built a strong foundation to make an impact today, while working on longer-term innovations to create even bigger change tomorrow,” said Brian Filan, Director of Marketing, Canada, CooperVision.

 Click HERE for the full press release.