We’re in the middle of a public health crisis, even as COVID-19 numbers improve and life begins to return to normal for millions of vaccinated Americans. Studies show myopia is the most common ocular disorder worldwide, it is the leading cause of visual impairment in children, and its incidence is increasing rapidly.1,2 In 2010, an estimated 1.9 billion people (27% of the world’s population) were myopic, and 70 million of them (2.8%) had high myopia. These numbers are projected to rise to 52% and 10%, respectively, by 2050.

Progressive and pathologic myopic changes are treatable, and FDA approved treatment option for myopia management, MiSight daily disposable contact lenses, have been on the market since early 2020.3  We sit down with Dr. Inna Lazar on this podcast as she shares her passion for myopia management, how she is addressing this need in her private practice, and what she is doing with her popular social media platform @dr.innalazar on Instagram (with over 27,000 followers) to raise public awareness.

After graduating from optometry school in 2015, Dr. Lazar went to work at a busy group practice in Connecticut, but found that it was hard to incorporate specialty care like dry eye and specialty contact lenses into such a fast-paced practice modality. She left to open her own private practice, Greenwich Eye Care. “I knew I really just wanted to concentrate on myopia management and dry eye,” Dr. Lazar explained. “That’s my passion; that’s why I went to school. The office is quite small (just 300 square feet) but it’s perfect for what I want to do.” 

Dr. Lazar embraces myopia management as medical optometry practiced to the fullest scope and she encourages all doctors to change their mindset that myopia is purely a refractive condition.  Studies show that in the USA, fitting rates of soft multifocal contact lenses for myopia control in children is less than 5%.4 Her calling to practice myopia management was inspired by simply seeing kids in need in her own clinic. “I don’t feel that it’s right to let kids just get worse,” Dr. Lazar explains. “How does a doctor decide that today I’m going to treat this patient with glaucoma, but I’m not going to address this kid with progressive myopia?” 

Dr. Inna Lazar, Optometrist, and founder of Greenwich Eye Care

How does she approach this concept with parents where it’s been normalized that children’s vision will get worse every year? “I drill the concept that this is not normal,” Dr. Lazar explains. “We do not allow kids’ vision to keep getting worse these days. We have a treatment; we treat this like any other medical condition.” As soon as the MiSight contact lenses became the first FDA-approved treatment for myopia management at the end of 2019, she was fast to get in line to get certified to prescribe the lenses. She found the certification process very informative, giving doctors insight into the scientific studies behind myopia progression and the risks of associated retinal disease, including glaucoma, cataract, and retinal detachment, that they can share and explain to concerned parents about why slowing myopia progression is so important to long term ocular health.

“We can change this child’s future by treating them, and that’s very rewarding,” Dr. Lazar explains. Her success in connecting with parents is all about the tone of how she presents myopia treatment. Dr. Lyerly shares that before MiSight certification,