Disease discussed during #MyopiaChat

Discussions created by the #MyopiaChat campaign in January addressed whether myopia was a disease and if it warranted a medical diagnosis.

An eye care practitioner in the UK believed myopia was not a disease but was a condition that caused disease, in their opinion.

However, a response from Jeffrey Walline, associate dean for research at Ohio State University in Columbus, US, highlighted the definition of a disease and how myopia met this definition.

‘If optometrists don’t think of it as a disease, then why would we expect our patients or insurance companies to do so,’ Walline said.

#MyopiaChat is currently addressing the topic of communicating with parents about myopia and asked where practitioners stood morally and legally.