Innovations and the people behind them have been changing the way we practice optometry for centuries. Sometimes that change evolves slowly; other times that change is surprisingly rapid. Over the past decade, we have seen how innovation has improved our diagnostic acumen, bringing higher sensitivity, specificity, and positive predicted value to allow us to detect disease states earlier, before they lead to ocular signs and symptoms and potential vision loss. We also now have more devices and procedures available in our treatment armamentarium to help address our patients’ visual needs and improve their quality of life.
What if we could take these technologies to our patients, rather than having our patients come to us? There are a few such technologies available already, including the Melbourne Rapid Fields at-home visual fields test (M&S Technologies) and the iCare Home tonometer (Centervue), both of which will change the way we monitor and manage our patients with glaucoma and macular degeneration. Hopefully others, such as the Notal Home OCT (Notal Vision), will soon follow. And we have only seen a glimpse of the vision care applications possible with virtual reality and artificial intelligence. It’s exciting to imagine what eye care will look like in the near future!
Leslie, Justin, and I have had the pleasure of lecturing across the country on these and other advancements in medical eye care over the years. It would be remiss not to mention the inaugural MOD Live meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, May 5-7, where we will discuss how new technologies will shape our scope of practice. This meeting will be like no other. We personally invite you to come see, learn, collaborate, and engage with your peers and industry partners. Trust us, you won’t want to miss it! Visit modlivemeeting.com for more information and to register.
This issue is full of a lot of great articles—one on being diagnosed with a brain tumor and having the perseverance to continue practicing, another on guidelines for managing myopia, and one on optometry’s role in gene therapy for inherited retinal diseases. We are particularly excited to share the stories of several of our colleagues who have been innovators in the eye care space. You will get to hear why and how they brought their ideas to the market. (Also, if you haven’t read Start With Why by Simon Sinek, we highly recommend it).
Many of us have ideas, eye care–related or otherwise, that we know can change our own lives and maybe even the lives of our patients. The challenge, however, is for us to consider taking that next step and bring those ideas to reality. Perhaps the stories mentioned above will inspire you. Happy reading!
– Walter O. Whitley, OD, MBA, FAAO
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