The Myopia Mindset

This is a preview to one of our subscriber only episodes on Substack.

Get the full episode here: https://myopiamindset.substack.com/

Substack Subscribers get an inbox update when we post a new episode, early episodes, a weekly newsletter - PLUS bonus content for paying subscribers.

This month’s question came from Dr. Andrew Brauer, by way of a text he sent Cary. Andrew had heard Cary say something on a previous episode — an idea Cary traces back to his own mentor — about how sometimes the profession needs to stop trying to convince the doctors and just take the message straight to the patients who need to hear it. Andrew couldn’t shake it. So he sent Cary a text, Cary said we should do this on the show, and that’s how we ended up here.

Dr. Matthew Martin on front-loading the hard part of ortho-K so the next ten years mostly run themselves, and why doctors who keep redesigning happy patients are making their own work.

This is a preview to one of our subscriber only episodes on Substack.

Get the full episode here: https://myopiamindset.substack.com/

Substack Subscribers get an inbox update when we post a new episode, early episodes, a weekly newsletter - PLUS bonus content for paying subscribers.

Dr. Shefali Miglani is one of the most successful myopia management doctors I know. She's also the only guest who opened by telling me she failed. She had the lens, the technology and the topography map, and parents still nodded politely and walked out without signing up.

When she figured out why, it changed everything. She'd been talking about her technology, her training and herself, and the parent in the room had no idea where they fit in.

We cover why information doesn't convert, why the scare-tactic opener costs you the parent in seconds, what "calm certainty" sounds like, and her reframe on who the hero in your exam room really is. She also talks openly about masculine and feminine energy in practice, and what changed when she stopped bringing a warrior energy into the room that wasn't hers.

If you've ever watched a parent say thank you after a great consult and never come back, this one's for you.

For the full episode breakdown, read the companion piece on The Myopia Mindset Substack: https://myopiamindset.substack.com/p/why-parents-say-no-to-myopia-management

Dr. David Ng went inside Vision China 2026 — AI risk models trained on more than a million records, ten-year axial trajectories predicted from a single retinal photograph, and a national approach to childhood myopia that makes ours look accidental. Dr. Cary Herzberg, Dr. Andrew Brauer and Dr. Priscilla Chang break down what it means for the rest of us.

This is the third story from this month's Myopia News Monthly. The full episode also covers a study where 24.5% of non-myopic high school students became myopic in three years, and a new randomized trial on repeated low-level red light therapy — plus twenty minutes of the panel arguing about whether myopia management is specialty care or primary care.

Full episode and every month's breakdown: myopiamindset.substack.com

#myopia #myopiamanagement #optometry

Dr. Jennifer Lyerly walks through the STAR study numbers, the parents who just want the glasses, and the 25-year-old nobody knows what to do with.

Join Us on Substack: full podcast + articles + bonus content

myopiamindset.substack.com

Subscribe on Substack: Weekly podcast + article + bonus content ↓ https://myopiamindset.substack.com

Dr. Carrie Hartigan on building a pediatric-only practice, training a myopia coordinator, winning pediatrician referrals, and why one flat fee changed how she treats every kid.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Myopia Mindset — conversations with the optometrists and myopia specialists figuring this out in real time. Full episode: https://myopiamindset.substack.com

Dr. David Ng was a happy general practice OD in 2002. Then he put a retinoscope in front of his three-year-old son.

SUBSCRIBE ON OUR SUBSTACK

https://myopiamindset.substack.com/

New episode alerts in your inbox, early episodes, video podcasts, newsletter, and bonus content you wont find anywhere else!

Welcome back to Myopia News Monthly, our ongoing segment where we grab the biggest stories in myopia management and actually break them down.

Get the full episode, details, video and bonus content on our Substack: https://myopiamindset.substack.com/p/ama-myopia-disease-resolution

The FDA just gave myopia management a second chance.

Last October, Sydnexis’ SYD-101 — the low-dose atropine drop that would be the first FDA-approved pharmaceutical treatment for pediatric progressive myopia — was rejected in a Complete Response Letter that left most of us scratching our heads. The Phase 3 STAR trial was the largest pediatric myopia program ever completed (847 children, ages 3–14), the data looked sound, and the FDA’s reasoning never really came.

Now, after Sydnexis filed a formal dispute, the FDA has announced it will convene an advisory committee to review the application. It’s a redo — and this time, the people in the room will actually know myopia.

To unpack what that means, I brought back my regular guest contributor (and dad), Dr. Cary Herzberg — pioneer of myopia management with 40+ years in practice.

SUBSCRIBE on SUBSTACK for early episodes, weekly newsletter, bonus content: https://myopiamindset.substack.com/

He inherited a handful of poorly-fit ortho-K patients, gave himself six months to master the specialty, and ended up co-founding a lens design company. Dr. Sukh Gill returns for a deep-dive interview.

SUBSCRIBE on SUBSTACK for weekly articles, bonus content, and video podcast episodes. https://myopiamindset.substack.com/