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MYOPIA
A Growing Epidemic

WHAT IS MYOPIA?

Myopia is a chronic, progressive disease characterized by excessive eye elongation, risk of associated sight-threatening complications, and a negative-powered refractive error.1-3

GROWING GLOBAL EPIDEMIC

  • Reports of increased myopia prevalence in children first emerged in Asia in the 1980s4,5
  • The number of people with myopia has nearly doubled within the past 20 years in both eastern and western societies6.
  • Prevalence among young adults is reported to be above 80% in many Asian regions,7 and 50% in the U.S. and parts of Europe.8,9
  • Children in the first wave of high myopia prevalence (those born after 1970) are now on the cusp of experiencing sight-threatening complications as adults.10,11,12

NO SAFE LEVEL OF MYOPIA

  • The elongated eye is susceptible to pathological complications with significant risks to eye health and vision12,14
  • Any degree of myopia increases the risk of sight-threatening complications, with some complications leading to blindness in adulthood15,16
  • Each diopter increase in myopia results in 67% increased risk of myopic macular degeneration (MMD)17

Any degree of myopia increases the risk of sight-threatening complications.

CONTROLLING MYOPIA PROGRESSION image

Arrow pointing upwards over chart.

MANAGING MYOPIA

  • Eye care professionals have the opportunity to manage myopia.
  • Increased time outdoors can delay myopia onset18 and may slow its progression19

IN PRACTICE

BENEFITS OF A NEW APPROACH

  • Address myopia today: provide your patients with latest treatment options proven to slow progression of myopia and correct vision, versus traditional vision correction that will not treat myopia.
  • Lifestyle benefits: For patients wearing Ortho-K contact lenses for myopia management, there are immediate benefits of going glasses-free during the day, including performance in sports and increased confidence.20. Several studies have shown that kids are very capable of wearing contact lenses21 and they greatly prefer them to glasses once getting the hang of insertion and removal.22

Benfits of a new approach image

Black girl on swing smiling, representing benefits of treating myopia early.

Benfits of a new approach image

Black girl on swing smiling, representing benefits of treating myopia early.
BENEFITS OF A NEW APPROACH

BENEFITS OF A NEW APPROACH

  • Address myopia today: provide your patients with latest treatment options proven to slow progression of myopia and correct vision, versus traditional vision correction that will not treat myopia.
  • Lifestyle benefits: For patients wearing Ortho-K contact lenses for myopia management, there are immediate benefits of going glasses-free during the day, including performance in sports and increased confidence.20. Several studies have shown that kids are very capable of wearing contact lenses21 and they greatly prefer them to glasses once getting the hang of insertion and removal.22

Benfits of a new approach image

Black girl on swing smiling, representing benefits of treating myopia early.

Benfits of a new approach image

Black girl on swing smiling, representing benefits of treating myopia early.

MYOPIA MANAGEMENT IN YOUR PRACTICE image

Asian boy wearing glasses, who may have myopia, carrying a backpack, as if he’s headed off to school.

MYOPIA MANAGEMENT IN YOUR PRACTICE

Incorporating myopia management into your practice requires a slight shift in your approach and how you communicate with your patients.
  • Prepare your practice. To integrate myopia management into your practice, there are many steps you may need to take including understanding the chair time required and enrolling your staff.
  • Consider all patients. Offer myopia management options to ALL patients.
  • Educate in advance. In advance of their next appointment, send information to patients that could be candidates within your database, educating them on myopia as a disease, and the potential to manage it. This will ensure patients are mildly familiar with your treatment approach.
  • Encourage parents to ask. Download the Johnson & Johnson Health Caring Conversation Guide to learn how you can optimize your communication to help your patients understand the benefits of myopia management.
  • Address cost concerns directly. Myopia management treatment can seem expensive at first, which is why it’s important to clearly state its benefits and value to parents.

MYOPIA MANAGEMENT IN YOUR PRACTICE image

Asian boy wearing glasses, who may have myopia, carrying a backpack, as if he’s headed off to school.
MYOPIA MANAGEMENT IN YOUR PRACTICE

MYOPIA MANAGEMENT IN YOUR PRACTICE image

Asian boy wearing glasses, who may have myopia, carrying a backpack, as if he’s headed off to school.

MYOPIA MANAGEMENT IN YOUR PRACTICE

Incorporating myopia management into your practice requires a slight shift in your approach and how you communicate with your patients.
  • Prepare your practice. To integrate myopia management into your practice, there are many steps you may need to take including understanding the chair time required and enrolling your staff.
  • Consider all patients. Offer myopia management options to ALL patients.
  • Educate in advance. In advance of their next appointment, send information to patients that could be candidates within your database, educating them on myopia as a disease, and the potential to manage it. This will ensure patients are mildly familiar with your treatment approach.
  • Encourage parents to ask. Download the Johnson & Johnson Health Caring Conversation Guide to learn how you can optimize your communication to help your patients understand the benefits of myopia management.
  • Address cost concerns directly. Myopia management treatment can seem expensive at first, which is why it’s important to clearly state its benefits and value to parents.

MYOPIA MANAGEMENT IN YOUR PRACTICE image

Asian boy wearing glasses, who may have myopia, carrying a backpack, as if he’s headed off to school.

MARKETING MYOPIA MANAGEMENT

Here’s how to get started with an effective myopia management marketing campaign:
  • Get your staff on board: Agree on a simple message that your whole staff can reinforce.
  • Get help and support: Your vendors can provide you with marketing materials, educational aids, best practices, and more.
  • Talk to every patient: Understand the importance of treatment. Myopia can develop at a young age. That’s why it’s important to make patients and parents aware of the risks of untreated myopia, and the treatments that are available.
  • Focus on the emotional benefits. Resist the urge to get bogged down in the details of specific product designs.

MARKETING MYOPIA MANAGEMENT image

Two Asian girls who may have myopia running on the beach, enjoying an active lifestyle without glasses because of treatment.

MARKETING MYOPIA MANAGEMENT image

Two Asian girls who may have myopia running on the beach, enjoying an active lifestyle without glasses because of treatment.
MARKETING MYOPIA MANAGEMENT

MARKETING MYOPIA MANAGEMENT

Here’s how to get started with an effective myopia management marketing campaign:
  • Get your staff on board: Agree on a simple message that your whole staff can reinforce.
  • Get help and support: Your vendors can provide you with marketing materials, educational aids, best practices, and more.
  • Talk to every patient: Understand the importance of treatment. Myopia can develop at a young age. That’s why it’s important to make patients and parents aware of the risks of untreated myopia, and the treatments that are available.
  • Focus on the emotional benefits. Resist the urge to get bogged down in the details of specific product designs.

MARKETING MYOPIA MANAGEMENT image

Two Asian girls who may have myopia running on the beach, enjoying an active lifestyle without glasses because of treatment.

MARKETING MYOPIA MANAGEMENT image

Two Asian girls who may have myopia running on the beach, enjoying an active lifestyle without glasses because of treatment.

REFERENCES

This website addresses primary myopia rather than the secondary myopias, such as syndromic or cataract-related myopia, as defined in the IMI report.
1. Flitcroft DI. The complex interactions of retinal, optical and environmental factors in myopia aetiology. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2012;31(6):622-660.
2. Donovan L, Sankaridurg P, Ho A et al Myopia progression rates in urban children wearing single-vision spectacles. OVS 2012;89(1):27-32.
3. Pärssinen O, Kauppinen M. Risk factors for high myopia: a 22-year follow-up study from childhood to adulthood. Acta Ophthalmologica. 2019;97(5):510-518. In addition can keep first flitcroft (IMI) reference with this full definition since it points to the refractive error component.
4. Lin LL et al. Nationwide survey of myopia among schoolchildren in Taiwan, 1986. Acta Ophthalmologica. 1988;66(S185):29-33.
5. Au Eong KG, Tay TH, Lim MK. Race, culture and Myopia in 110,236 young Singaporean males. Singapore Med J. 1993 34(1) 29-32.
6. Holden BA, Fricke TR, Wilson DA, et al. Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology 2016;123:1036-42.
7. Ding, Bo-Yuan, et al. "Myopia among schoolchildren in East Asia and Singapore." Survey of ophthal­mology 62.5 (2017): 677-697.
8. Vitale S et al. Prevalence of refractive error in the United States, 1999-2004. Arch Ophthalmol. 2008;126:1111-9.
9. Williams K et al. Increasing prevalence of myopia in Europe and the impact of education. Ophthalmology. 2015 Jul 1;122(7):1489-97.
10. Morgan IG, French AN, Ashby RS, Guo X, Ding X, He M, Rose KA. The epidemics of myopia: Aetiology and prevention. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2018 Jan;62:134-149.
11. Sensaki S, Sabanayagam C, Verkicharla PK, Awodele A, Tan KH, Chia A, Saw SM. An Ecologic Study of Trends in the Prevalence of Myopia in Chinese Adults in Singapore Born from the 1920s to 1980s. Ann Acad Med Singap. 2017 Jun;46(6):229-236.
12. Haarman AEG, Enthoven CA, Tideman JWL, Tedja MS, Verhoeven VJM, Klaver CCW. The Complications of Myopia: A Review and Meta-Analysis. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2020 Apr 9;61(4):49.
14. Tideman JW, Snabel MC, Tedja MS et al. Association of Axial Length With Risk of Uncorrectable Visual Impairment for Europeans With Myopia. JAMA. Ophthalmol. 2016 Dec 1;134(12):1355-1363.
15. Perkins ES. Morbidity from Myopia. Sight Sav Rev 1979;49:11-9.
16. Flitcroft DI. The Complex Interactions of Retinal, Optical and Environmental Factors in Myopia Aetiology. Prog Retin Eye Res 2012;31:622-60.
17. Bullimore MA, Brennan NA. Myopia-control: Why Each Diopter Matters. Optom Vis Sci 2019;96:463-5.
18. He M et al. Effect of time spent outdoors at school on the development of myopia among children in China: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2015;314:1142-8.
19. Wu PC et al. Myopia prevention and outdoor light intensity in a school-based cluster randomized trial. Ophthalmol. 2018;125:1239-50.
20. Santodomingo-Rubido, Jacinto, et al. Myopia control with orthokeratology contact lenses in Spain: a comparison of vision-related quality-of-life measures between orthokeratology contact lenses and single-vision spectacles. Eye & Contact Lens 39.2 (2013): 153-157.
21. Walline, Jeffrey J et al. Contact Lenses in Pediatrics (CLIP) Study: chair time and ocular health. Optometry and Vision Science 84.9 (2007): 896-902.
22. Walline JJ, Gaume A, Jones LA, Rah MJ, Manny RE, Berntsen DA, Chitkara M, Kim A, Quinn N. Benefits of contact lens wear for children and teens. Eye Contact Lens 2007;33:317–21.

PP2021ABLM4027
REFERENCES

REFERENCES

This website addresses primary myopia rather than the secondary myopias, such as syndromic or cataract-related myopia, as defined in the IMI report.
1. Flitcroft DI. The complex interactions of retinal, optical and environmental factors in myopia aetiology. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2012;31(6):622-660.
2. Donovan L, Sankaridurg P, Ho A et al Myopia progression rates in urban children wearing single-vision spectacles. OVS 2012;89(1):27-32.
3. Pärssinen O, Kauppinen M. Risk factors for high myopia: a 22-year follow-up study from childhood to adulthood. Acta Ophthalmologica. 2019;97(5):510-518. In addition can keep first flitcroft (IMI) reference with this full definition since it points to the refractive error component.
4. Lin LL et al. Nationwide survey of myopia among schoolchildren in Taiwan, 1986. Acta Ophthalmologica. 1988;66(S185):29-33.
5. Au Eong KG, Tay TH, Lim MK. Race, culture and Myopia in 110,236 young Singaporean males. Singapore Med J. 1993 34(1) 29-32.
6. Holden BA, Fricke TR, Wilson DA, et al. Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology 2016;123:1036-42.
7. Ding, Bo-Yuan, et al. "Myopia among schoolchildren in East Asia and Singapore." Survey of ophthal­mology 62.5 (2017): 677-697.
8. Vitale S et al. Prevalence of refractive error in the United States, 1999-2004. Arch Ophthalmol. 2008;126:1111-9.
9. Williams K et al. Increasing prevalence of myopia in Europe and the impact of education. Ophthalmology. 2015 Jul 1;122(7):1489-97.
10. Morgan IG, French AN, Ashby RS, Guo X, Ding X, He M, Rose KA. The epidemics of myopia: Aetiology and prevention. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2018 Jan;62:134-149.
11. Sensaki S, Sabanayagam C, Verkicharla PK, Awodele A, Tan KH, Chia A, Saw SM. An Ecologic Study of Trends in the Prevalence of Myopia in Chinese Adults in Singapore Born from the 1920s to 1980s. Ann Acad Med Singap. 2017 Jun;46(6):229-236.
12. Haarman AEG, Enthoven CA, Tideman JWL, Tedja MS, Verhoeven VJM, Klaver CCW. The Complications of Myopia: A Review and Meta-Analysis. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2020 Apr 9;61(4):49.
14. Tideman JW, Snabel MC, Tedja MS et al. Association of Axial Length With Risk of Uncorrectable Visual Impairment for Europeans With Myopia. JAMA. Ophthalmol. 2016 Dec 1;134(12):1355-1363.
15. Perkins ES. Morbidity from Myopia. Sight Sav Rev 1979;49:11-9.
16. Flitcroft DI. The Complex Interactions of Retinal, Optical and Environmental Factors in Myopia Aetiology. Prog Retin Eye Res 2012;31:622-60.
17. Bullimore MA, Brennan NA. Myopia-control: Why Each Diopter Matters. Optom Vis Sci 2019;96:463-5.
18. He M et al. Effect of time spent outdoors at school on the development of myopia among children in China: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2015;314:1142-8.
19. Wu PC et al. Myopia prevention and outdoor light intensity in a school-based cluster randomized trial. Ophthalmol. 2018;125:1239-50.
20. Santodomingo-Rubido, Jacinto, et al. Myopia control with orthokeratology contact lenses in Spain: a comparison of vision-related quality-of-life measures between orthokeratology contact lenses and single-vision spectacles. Eye & Contact Lens 39.2 (2013): 153-157.
21. Walline, Jeffrey J et al. Contact Lenses in Pediatrics (CLIP) Study: chair time and ocular health. Optometry and Vision Science 84.9 (2007): 896-902.
22. Walline JJ, Gaume A, Jones LA, Rah MJ, Manny RE, Berntsen DA, Chitkara M, Kim A, Quinn N. Benefits of contact lens wear for children and teens. Eye Contact Lens 2007;33:317–21.

PP2021ABLM4027