I'm not an AAO member, but I've always liked the idea that OD's that are particularly interested in research can group together to share their ideas. The more we all do that, the more our patients benefit for certain.
Below is the 2nd page of the article on this award. I don't know the recipient of the Charles Prentice award, but congratulations to him!
I've two questions about it. One, I spent some time a few weeks ago trying to find the research on this idea that peripheral retinal blur induces myopia and aspheric lenses may have an effect on slowing the progression of myopia. I couldn't find it. Does anybody have any information?
2nd, this article seems to state as fact that myopia is a risk factor for glaucoma. I was under the impression that the evidence was too mixed to make a statement like that. And if it is any risk factor at all, and that is questionable depending of the study, it is a pretty weak one. Am I out of my gourd? -Charlie
Charles McBride, O.D.
Beaverton, OR
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One particular breakthrough in which Smith was involved this year is the discovery of new technologies to control myopia, better known as nearsightedness. Affecting more than 1.6 billion people globally, myopia afflicts 128 million people in the United States. If left undetected, the condition progresses and can not only adversely impact a child's education and social development, but also significantly increases the risk of cataracts, glaucoma and retinal detachment as people age.
"Our research provides new insight into refractive development, as well as having practical implications for the clinical management of myopia," Smith said. "Refraction is the ability of the eye to bend light so that an image is focused on the retina, and this changes as a person matures. When someone becomes nearsighted, distant images become focused in front of the retina instead of on it, as it needs to be for clear vision.
"Traditional visual correction for this condition has been to manipulate visual images only forward and backward with corrective lenses. It's now been discovered, however, that the peripheral retinal image plays a major part in stimulating eye growth and myopia. So, in partnership with the Vision Cooperative Research Centre in Sydney, we've developed glasses and contact lenses intended to control myopia progression by manipulating peripheral optics."
These new methods Smith and his colleagues have been studying represent a fundamental shift in the approach to optical interventions for controlling refractive development. Their preliminary results have provided proof that peripheral optical manipulations can indeed slow myopia progression. The group's next steps will be to embark on longer-term clinical trials and optimize the lens designs they've developed thus far.
