As Myopia Awareness Week approaches (22-26 May), the eye health sector is being urged to ensure myopia management is an essential part of child eye health.
O=MEGA23, in partnership with the 4th World Congress of Optometry (WCO), will feature the latest research and updates across several presentations about myopia management and myopia control as part of a diverse conference program taking place in Melbourne in September.
Dr Paul and Dr Kate Gifford, founders of Myopia Profile, the internationally recognised information resource on clinical myopia management, will be presenting on ‘Unanswered questions in myopia management’.
“There is a professional obligation to provide myopia management as standard of care for young patients, and an expanding volume of scientific literature on efficacy, safety and benefits of myopia treatments. There are still important scientific questions, though, which have substantial implications for enabling myopia management in clinical practice,” Dr Kate Gifford said.
“Our presentation will outline the latest research on the knowns and the unknowns for several unanswered questions in myopia management. The knowns will be translated into actionable clinical advice and management pathways, and the unknowns detailed to support practitioner communication.”
Plenary speaker Professor Mark Bullimore will also be discussing myopia, supported by CooperVision, a major platinum sponsor of O=MEGA23.
CooperVision professional services manager Mr Joe Tanner said Professor Bullimore is an internationally renowned scientist, speaker and educator and has become one of the most important figures in helping eyecare professions understand child myopia and its management.
“At O=MEGA23/WCO4, Mark will share further important insights on myopia management, particularly in the context of local practice where the opportunity to greatly limit the adverse effects of high myopia is larger than in many other countries,” Tanner said.
The biennial O=MEGA event is the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere, while the World Congress of Optometry is an international event hosted in a different city across the world also on a biennial basis. This partnership is a unique alignment and rare opportunity to combine a national and international program to create the largest optometric event in the region.
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