Exploring the daily effects of complications associated with myopia

The personal effect of myopia was explored as part of the 100% Optical presentation A life changed by myopia – and a chance to change lives today (28 February, Excel London).

CooperVision director of global professional affairs, Elizabeth Lumb, told delegates that when she first delivered a presentation about myopia at 100% Optical in 2017 there were no approved interventions available for practitioners to fit.

She highlighted that there are now a broad range of commercially available myopia management options – including spectacle and contact lens options.

Subsequent 100% Optical presentations shared the stories of young people who had benefited from myopia management as part of the MiSight clinical trial.

These case studies included a teenager whose confidence was improved by wearing contact lenses as she entered high school, and a young person who was able to pursue his chosen vocation within the military.

“We were learning about the joy that children had when wearing contact lenses and the quality of life benefits,” Lumb reflected.

“We also learned that myopia control interventions were keeping doors of opportunity open as children became young adults and made career choices,” she added.

Lumb shared that this year’s 100% Optical presentation would focus on outlining the connection between myopia and an increased risk of eye disease.

CooperVision senior manager of global professional affairs, myopia and specialty lenses, Katie Harrop, interviewed retired medical secretary and home tutor, Elaine Shaw.

Shaw, 67, is based in the West Midlands and lives with myopic macular degeneration – a condition that she was diagnosed with at the age of 25 and is associated with being a myope.

Shaw told delegates that the condition affects her in many different ways – from not being able to recognise friends and acquaintances in the street, to having difficulties navigating edges and steps.

“I can't see my own face in the mirror. I have to put on my makeup completely by feel, applying the same pressure to both sides,” she said.

Living with myopic macular degeneration also means that Shaw no longer feels comfortable driving, despite meeting visual acuity requirements.

This created challenges for maintaining her former job as a medical secretary as she needed to take three buses to get to work.

Shaw described the anxiety she experiences receiving treatment injections for macular degeneration – a procedure she has undergone 45 times.

“It’s hard to describe how terrifying it is. It’s like a scene in a horror film,” she said.

Lumb reflected that experiences like Shaw’s reinforce the importance of making children and their families aware of the possibilities of myopia control.

“Elaine's sent out an extremely clear message to educate the families and the children that cross your thresholds in practice every day,” she said.

“It's been 10 years now since the very first intervention was introduced to the UK, and we are now gifted with a whole range of options to address childhood myopia. The foundations in evidence are exceptionally strong, and I think we're left in no doubt that this is the right thing to do clinically,” Lumb emphasised.

If healthcare professionals can get the word out, then children today can slow their myopia progression to a point where complications like mine are a lot less likely to happen

Speaking with OT before her presentation, Lumb shared that ocular pathology associated with myopia has a public health cost.

“For example, macular degeneration typically would affect an older population, but we are seeing myopic adults experiencing these problems much sooner than they might have otherwise done,” she said.

“This is the sort of challenge that we are seeing from a health economics perspective – people within the working age population experiencing these conditions,” Lumb highlighted.

Harrop outlined to OT the advancements that have occurred in myopia management over the course of her career.

“I'm always excited about the future of myopia management. When I qualified, we were having to say, ‘There's nothing that can be done. Just like your feet growing bigger, your eyes will grow bigger.’ Now we're in a position where there are all of these opportunities to offer children,” she said.