Unprecedented clinical interest in measuring axial length has fuelled a new partnership between the world’s largest multi-platform digital suite for myopia management and an optical device company headquartered in Germany.
Myopia Profile, founded in Australia in 2016 by optometrist husband-and-wife team Dr Paul Gifford and Dr Kate Gifford, has joined forces with Oculus, which launched Myopia Master in 2019, to educate eyecare professionals about axial length measurement.
The Myopia Master is based on technology from the Brien Holden Vision Institute and combines autorefraction, axial length and keratometry measurement with risk and output analysis software for clinical management and patient education.
According to both camps, clinical interest and questions on measurement of axial length measurement in myopia management has grown 470% from mid-2019 to mid-2020; in the second half of 2020, it grew an additional 35%.
On the Myopia Profile discussion forum on Facebook, posts which feature axial length measurement or interpretation as a key topic have grown from around 5% of posts in 2019 to 10% in 2020. Two of the top five most engaging posts of December 2020 alone were about axial length measurement.
Despite the explosion in practitioner interest, instrument access and clarity on how to use the data generated from axial length measurements remain key barriers to uptake in clinical practice.
In a 2019 landmark report, the International Myopia Institute (IMI) recognised the necessity of axial length measurement in myopia research, but also the numerous barriers to widespread clinical uptake.
“[The IMI] noted axial length as a desirable but not yet necessary element of clinical myopia management,” Dr Kate Gifford, lead author on the IMI Clinical Management Guidelines report, said.
“The axial length of the myopic eye appears to be more directly linked to the lifelong risk of eye disease and vision impairment due to increasing myopia, and hence should be our key modification goal in clinical myopia management.”
Myopia Profile and Oculus have commenced a partnership to increase eyecare practitioner knowledge and clinical confidence in measurement and interpretation of axial length in myopia. Specific educational content, research summaries and case studies will be developed, to be housed on MyopiaProfile.com and shared across the partnership’s multiple platforms.
“We aim to educate eyecare professionals about the importance of axial length measurement but also learn vice versa. The partnership with Myopia Profile is best placed to accomplish that,” Mr David Kern, Myopia Master product manager, said.
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