April 14, 2021 — The World Council of Optometry (WCO) shared that its board of directors unanimously approved a resolution advising optometrists to incorporate a standard of care for myopia management within their practices.
“Myopia is increasing at an alarming rate, as are the risks for vision impairment associated with the condition,” says Paul Folkesson, WCO president.  “With more than five billion people projected to be affected by myopia by 2050, the global optometric community must increase its efforts to combat this public health issue. Significant research has identified a number of interventions to potentially control the progression of myopia. Establishing a standard of care that regularly and consistently applies these interventions, particularly at an early age, may prevent or delay the onset of myopia, or halt or slow its progression.”

WCO’s resolution defines a three-prong evidence-based standard of care:

1. Mitigation: O.D.s educating and counseling parents and children, during early and regular eye exams, on lifestyle, dietary, and other factors to prevent or delay the onset of myopia
2. Measurement: O.D.s evaluating the status of a patient during regular comprehensive vision and eye health exams, such as measuring refractive error and axial length whenever possible
3. Management: O.D.s addressing patients’ needs of today by correcting myopia, while also providing evidence-based interventions (e.g., contact lenses, spectacles, pharmaceuticals) that slow the progression of myopia, for improved quality of life and better eye health today and into the future.

The organization also advises O.D.s to incorporate within their practice the standard of care for myopia management (which shifts from simply correcting vision to managing the condition) and includes public education and early, frequent discussions with parents explaining what myopia is, lifestyle factors that may impact myopia, myopia’s increased risks to long-term ocular health, and available approaches to manage myopia and slow its progression.

In addition, WCO and CooperVision recently launched a global partnership to raise awareness of myopia progression and will establish a global resource including multilingual myopia management resources and programming. 

“The facts and statistics cited in the resolution and approved by WCO’s board of directors on behalf of our 38 affiliate members, and 45 country member organizations who represent more than 114,000 optometrists, are undeniable,” says Folkesson. “I am calling on all of our country member organizations to pass their own resolution, or take a similar action, to publicly declare their support for the establishment and implementation of a standard of care centered around evidence-based approaches to treat myopia progression.”

To read WCO’s entire standard of care resolution, head here. 

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