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Welcome to Optometry Simplified.

In this biweekly 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

Defeat contact lens discomfort.

They come in saying, “My contacts bother me.” Too often, we treat that as a lens problem. However, to me, contact lens discomfort is dry eye until proven otherwise. I think the writers of this article agree with me. Review of Optometry​

2 podcasts to enjoy during a long walk or commute.​
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"Humans are habit machines." --Charles Duhigg with Peter Attia, MD on The Drive​

What our patients are hearing about supranormal vision and red light therapy from a popular podcast. --Jeffrey Goldberg, MD on The Tim Ferriss Show​

Stain without pain or pain without stain?

​Roxanna Potter, OD reviews the stubborn and often overlooked neurotrophic and neuropathic forms of ocular surface disease. Contact Lens Spectrum​

Research I'm Reading

I don't often set IOP targets for my glaucoma patients, but if I did...​

Not that I'm against it. It is often useful. But I've seen it create a cognitive anchor in too many instances leading to overtreatment. So if I did suddenly use it regularly, I'd be open to AI calculating it for me. American Journal of Ophthalmology​

How many medicare beneficiaries have been diagnosed with glaucoma?

A recent paper investigated the prevalence of POAG and dry eye diagnoses in medicare beneficiaries. The result? About ~6% have POAG and ~17% have comorbid dry eye. Clinical Ophthalmology​

Deep Thoughts

Not every test we order actually helps our patients. That’s the uncomfortable truth.

In Sensible Medicine, Adam Cifu, MD, frames this with a simple question: Will it change management? If the answer is no, then we’ve gathered data without altering care.

He calls this “diagnostic calibration”—the discipline of checking whether what we measure leads to a meaningful next step.

This idea belongs in optometry. We’re surrounded by new imaging tools, lab-like tests, and a steady stream of studies.

But before we add another line item to our protocols, we need to pause and ask: Does this result change what I do for the patient in front of me?

Cifu also highlights the role of certainty. Sometimes additional testing reduces uncertainty in a way that clearly changes management.

Other times, we already have enough clarity to move forward, and another test only adds cost and complexity.

Take diabetes. Ordering OCT macular imaging on every patient might feel thorough, but if those scans don’t alter your follow-up, treatment thresholds, or referral patterns, they’re just expensive pictures.

Or in dry eye: osmolarity or meibography can be useful, but unless they guide whether you escalate to prescription therapy, IPL, or immunomodulators, they risk becoming interesting data without impact.

And sometimes the biggest change comes from low-tech inputs: a careful history that uncovers fluctuating vision in a glaucoma patient, pointing you toward more aggressive dry eye therapy before adjusting glaucoma treatment.

The point isn’t to dismiss new tools. It’s to apply them with discipline. If a result drives a decision, it belongs in your protocol. If it doesn’t, it’s noise. Diagnostic calibration keeps us honest, efficient, and focused on improving outcomes.

Agree? Disagree? Share your comments here​

Practice Performance Partners Pick

Do you perform an annual risk analysis of your practice to ensure HIPAA compliance?

What about an annual review of risk regarding your use and your vendors use of AI?

Chris Wolfe, OD talks all things HIPAA, risk, audits and more on his recent podcast.

​Check it out here:​

Can you do me a favor? If you found any of these resources helpful, share this newsletter with one of our colleagues!

See you in 2 weeks!

--Kyle Klute, OD, FAAO

1515 S 152 Avenue Circle, Omaha, Nebraska 68144
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