Welcome to Optometry Simplified.
In this weekly newsletter, I've curated the best resources to help you grow personally and professionally.
My mission is to find what's best for my patients and my practice.
Here's what I've found...
Links I Liked
Is this really glaucoma? Is it only glaucoma?
A good management strategy for glaucoma patients is to consistently ask yourself: Is this truly a glaucomatous disease? Most of the time, it is, but sometimes the lines between glaucomatous atrophy and other neurodegenerative conditions are blurred. In a recent article, Jacqueline Theis, OD, reviews the most common neurodegenerative glaucoma masquerades every primary eye care provider should keep in mind. Modern Optometry
Are you benefiting from the latest advances in scleral lenses?
I’m a firm believer, maybe even a bit idealistic, that with modern advancements and better customization support from lab partners, scleral lenses belong in the everyday treatment arsenal of primary care optometrists. Articles like this help us stay up to date on innovations that improve patient outcomes. Review of Cornea & Contact Lenses
Research I'm Reading
How effective are spectacle lenses for myopia control, really?
This systematic review and meta-analysis pulls together 23 randomized controlled trials. The takeaway is clear: advanced lens designs, especially highly aspherical lenslet and DIMS lenses, meaningfully slow both axial elongation and refractive progression compared to single-vision lenses. A strong evidence-based read if you want to anchor your myopia recommendations in outcomes that actually reduce long-term risk. British Journal of Ophthalmology
Deep Thoughts
Myopia management doesn’t require a crusade. It requires a first step.
Most optometrists who haven’t started myopia management aren’t opposed to it.
They’re overwhelmed by how it’s often framed.
You’re told you must believe myopia is a global crisis, see every child every 3 months, overhaul your schedule, and convince every parent immediately of their child’s imminent danger.
That framing creates unnecessary friction.
When myopia management is positioned as something that requires a dramatic mindset shift, believing myopia is a looming epidemic, restructuring your schedule, and convincing every parent that immediate intervention is critical, many good primary care optometrists opt out.
Not because they do not care, but because it feels like too steep a mountain to climb for them, their staff, and their patients.
But that version of myopia management is not the only way, and it is rarely how successful programs actually start.
In real-world primary care practices, myopia management usually begins quietly and pragmatically.
It starts with the seven-year-old who presents at -1.00. You ask the parents about their own prescriptions. You explain that their child is at higher risk for progression and that our understanding of myopia has changed since they were kids.
Instead of waiting one to two years, you schedule a six-month follow-up. Not out of fear, but because we now know that blur and progression tend to fuel more progression.
You introduce the idea that we now have tools to slow that change. Drops. Specialty contact lenses. Spectacle lens options.
No scare tactics. No pressure. Just information and a clear call to action that goes beyond "see you next year!"
And to be clear, I do believe myopia management works. I believe slowing progression is better for our patients than simply reacting to it year after year. In my view, once myopia is present, doing something beyond single vision correction is almost always the better clinical option.
What matters is how that belief shows up in the exam room.
When we recommend myopia management confidently, without fear-based messaging or all-or-nothing ultimatums, parents are far more receptive. Some choose to start treatment right away. Most return at six months engaged and informed. And nearly all appreciate that their doctor is paying closer attention than they expected.
Over time, as you see progression firsthand, your conviction grows naturally. Not from ideology, but from experience.
Myopia management success requires starting small, making a better recommendation, and letting clinical reality do the persuading.
If you are looking to grow your myopia management services, whether you are initiating a protocol for the first time or refining what you already have, this is exactly the kind of work we help practices do.
Reach out to Practice Performance Partners or contact me directly.
Our focus is on helping primary care practices implement myopia management in a way that is evidence-based, operationally realistic, and sustainable for doctors, teams, and families.
You do not have to save the world.
You just have to start with the next child in your chair.
Practice Performance Partners Pick
This is a fantastic conversation between Aaron Werner, OD, and Chandler Mann, OD, that every primary care optometrist should listen to.
I especially appreciated Dr. Mann’s perspective on myopia management as his favorite part of practice, while still keeping it firmly in its proper place as one component of full-scope primary care optometry.
A refreshing, grounded reminder that great care is about thoughtful integration, not chasing a single lane.
Can you do me a favor? If you found any of these resources helpful, share this newsletter with one of our colleagues!
See you next week!
--Kyle Klute, OD, FAAO