By Gary Gerber, OD
For the past 12 years, Jeffrey Cooper, MS, OD, has been applying Atropine drops in patients in an attempt to slow down or stop myopic creep in kids and teenagers and to potentially provide them with a life free of any distance vision correction device.
From all indications, he’s been successful. So why hasn’t his technique in myopia control taken optometry by storm?
The answer to that question has less to do with clinical issues and more to do with how we see ourselves as optometrists in the realm of health care providers.
Let’s put that another way: Are we asking ourselves what’s best for patients–or what’s best for ourselves and our practices?
To be fair, while there are some good myopia control studies, some of the science is still out on this technique. I recently had Dr. Cooper on The Power Hour, my weekly radio call-in show for ODs, and a caller asked, basically, “Why would you pickle a child’s eyes?” Well, first because this technique works; and, second, because for many living life without eyeglasses or contact lenses or refractive surgery is a wonderful thing.
To form your own opinion, click HERE to read Dr. Cooper’s paper on the subject where he reviewed several relevant studies.
Dr. Cooper cites a great quote from the 19th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. And third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” He sees the treatment of myopia with atropine being in the second stage, and orthokeratology ending the second stage.
So my question: Why aren’t more ODs thinking in patient-centric terms?
Perhaps because of what we’ve got invested–in our practices, in our eyewear inventory, and in our very notion that we are (to use a somewhat inflated term) “optometric physicians.”
Maybe we need to take off the white coat for a minute and look in the mirror.
If we step outside our own world and look at business in general, the landscape is littered with corporate road kill of companies too invested in what they are to see what they could be. Kodak and camera film jumps to mind.
Further, are we afraid that if we try a new technique our entire infrastructure will crumble? Look at Dr. Cooper’s practice in New York City: He operates a successful dispensary, in addition to offering myopia control. Ortho-K, LASIK co-management, and a full range of eyecare services.
Point is: If our mission is to ensure the ocular health and improve the vision of our patients, are we as open as we might be to new techniques of delivering on that promise? In whose best interests do we practice?
Action point: As you slip the key in your office front door each morning, try asking yourself those questions.
CLICK HERE to download an hour-long Power Hour podcast with Jeffrey Cooper, MS, OD.
Gary Gerber, OD, is Chief Dream Officer for The Power Practice and host of the Power Hour. To contact him: drgerber@powerpractice.com
