I’m thrilled to to introduce you to the 2024 myopia special edition of mivision. A smorgasbord of topics, from efficacy to effective management awaits you, from authors at the cutting edge of research and clinical practice.
For those of you who are newer to the field of myopia, buckle in for an inspiring knowledge journey ahead! For those of you who have been involved in, reading about, and practising myopia management for many years, there is still so much to learn. While it could be argued that most foundational elements of myopia management have been established – the who and why – more is being added to the picture of how to best compare treatments, what new treatments are on the horizon, when to ‘power up’ treatments with customisation or combinations, and what to do when managing more complex cases or non-compliance. You’ll find all of this and more in this issue.
The ‘fruity’ feature article I’ve written with my co-author Jeanne Saw helps you to compare apples with apples, or oranges, or bananas, as the nomenclature and metrics of exploring treatment efficacy are evolving. Learn about how different forms of digital devices impact the visual system; clinical overviews; complex presentations and case studies; and the importance of dispensing considerations to ensure a treatment can be worn successfully. The red-hot topic of low-level red-light therapy is explored, including its burgeoning research basis and clinical experiences from around the world. New spectacle lens technology sits alongside the latest we know about orthokeratology, arguably the intervention with the longest history of consistent evidence for slowing myopia progression. Molecular mechanisms of myopic pathology, battery powered contact lenses, and AI algorithms chart the management of the future, and are a nice brain-stretcher in the present.
As Guest Editor for this special issue for the first time in 2017, it’s similarly brain-stretching to think back to how much we have learnt since. All three volumes of the International Myopia Institute Reports and Digests have been published since, with a fourth in draft for 2025. Most of the evidence for treatments we prescribe today was only published in the past handful of years. So much has changed, and yet the drive to learn more is endless: enjoy the journey in this special issue.
