iDay: Commercialising myopia

The Independents Day (iDay) 2022 Conference gathered 80 practitioners at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham on July 4 to share myopia management best practices, improve marketing skills and change misconceptions around myopia fees.

Optometrist and myopia specialist, Nick Dash, began the day with a focus on the patient experience highlighted by the powerfully named session, A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity: Myopia Matters, which discussed professional duty, opportunity and the benefits from developing his website whymyopiamatters.org.

Dr Gary Gerber presented the keynote address, Commercialising Myopia Management, from the US through a pre-recorded video that outlined how the Treehouse Eyes organisation, a myopia management eye care group of over 60 practices across 22 US states, originated after he and co-founder Matt Oerding noticed a myopia-shaped gap in the eye care market. Gerber explained their effective eye care business model was based around four priorities: science, demand, solely myopia-focused services, and a proactive mindset. He said: ‘The most important thing you need to do in your practice when you start down this journey is to make sure you have the proper mindset. To succeed in myopia management, you must have a knee-jerk response. Instead of simply giving them the minus 0.75 pair of eyeglasses, you should be thinking “how can I slow down this kid’s axial length.”