According to Dr. Edward Chow, Founder and President of the Global Council on Myopia Management (GCOMM) the prevailing mind-set that myopia is simply corrected with lenses or surgery needs to change if the debilitating sight-threatening consequences of the myopia pandemic are to be avoided. 

In June 2019, GCOMM held their first Myopia Management conference in Toronto. Renowned speakers covered clinical research, tools and education on the topic of myopia control. The conference was held over two days and included seminars, breakout sessions and a vendor tradeshow. Speakers included 27 experts in research and clinical practice, and 19 vendors of myopia control products provided 16 hours of accredited Continuing Education and was attended by 185 eye care practitioners.

Friday evening ended with a three-hour workshop on OrthoTool™, a custom contact lens design software which enables Optometrists to simplify their workflow and quickly design custom orthokeratology contact lenses for even the most difficult cases.

Research in myopia control has helped us better understand some of the environmental and genetic factors in myopia. According to Dr. Andrei Tkatchenko, MD, PhD, genetic factors are the main driver of myopia.  He attributes 70% to genetics and 30% is environmental factors. Through deeper knowledge of the specific genes affecting myopia, new drugs are expected to be much more successful in slowing down myopia than existing options and with minimal side effects.

Thanks to GCOMM, a platform is available to showcase the research being done in the myopia management and help Optometrists to successfully treat, educate and communicate to their patients with the knowledge they gain by attending. 

As research continues and we have more questions, more answers, more products, newer drugs and advanced measuring tools that will aid us in treating and hopefully ending this growing epidemic.