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Because this year’s session is joint between the AOA and WCO, the session will feature work from members across both groups.

AOA announces top 5 posters in the 2025 live education session lineup

Videos

Q&A with Karl Stoneciper, MD, on outcomes of LASIK using the Teneo platform to correct high myopia

The system was taught quality standards by being fed more than 1400 images from different parts of the retina taken by adaptive-optics ophthalmoscopy. 

Researchers develop AI system that clarifies images of RPE, making cells visible

The bill, which passed on May 1, allows for West Virginian ODs to provide certain in-office procedures.

West Virginian legislators sign scope expansion bill into law

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Qlosi (Orasis Pharmaceuticals) approved to treat presbyopia.

FDA approves low-dose pilocarpine hydrochloride 0.4% as a treatment for presbyopia

Paul Smith shares an update on Orasis Pharmaceutical's CSF-1 drug and what to expect this year.

SECO 2023: Orasis Pharmaceuticals presents pipeline update at OIS

Medical device company LumiThera has announced topline results from its LIGHTSITE IIIB extension trial assessing the Valeda Light Delivery System in patients with dry (non-neovascular) 

 Multiwavelength Valeda treatments were authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for dry AMD patients in order to improve vision in November 2024, according to a news release.

Valeda photobiomodulation (PBM) treatment is noninvasive and targets disease at the cellular level by deliver select wavelengths of light to enhance mitochondrial function to improve cellular energy production.

“There is now a non-invasive treatment for dry AMD patients that can improve vision and address the disease earlier, before permanent vision loss,” said Clark Tedford, PhD, president and CEO of LumiThera, in the release. “The extended trial results demonstrate that Valeda is potentially modifying the trajectory of vision loss in dry AMD patients and can offer sustainable benefits over several years with continued treatment.”

Valeda met the primary end point in the US LIGHTSIDE III trial, improving the best corrected visual acuity in patients for 24 months of >5 letters or equivalent to 1 line improvement on the eye chart.

 Additionally, Valeda was shown to be safe and effective, according to the release.

“The primary endpoint of the trial was BCVA gain. After another 13 months of treatment, although the size of the study population of LIGHTSITE IIIB is relatively small, >60% of the subjects that received Valeda treatment in both studies were still showing a benefit in vision of over one line,” said Quan Dong Nguyen, MD, MSc, FARVO, FASRS, professor of Ophthalmology, Medicine, and Pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine, in the release. “What is exciting is this is the first and only FDA authorized treatment that can improve vision with extended benefits out to 4.5 years, suggesting that earlier and extended treatment provides the best outcomes.”

“The LIGHTSITE IIIB extension trial results extend 2-year pivotal trial vision benefits out to 4.5 years and showed an excellent safety profile,” stated David Boyer, MD, FASRS, of Retina Vitreous Associates Medical Group in Beverly Hills, California, in the release. “This is very exciting data for early to intermediate dry AMD patients. The 4.5-year follow-up included a 20-month no-treatment period between the 2 trials, wherein the patients still maintained some vision benefit from the earlier pivotal trial and recovered vision upon retreatment in the extension trial.”

Valeda is intended to treat patients with a best correct visual acuity of 20/32 through 20/70 and who have dry AMD as characterized by The presence of at least 3 medium drusen {> 63 μm and ≤ 125 μm in diameter), or large drusen {> 125μm in diameter), or non-central geographic atrophy, in addition to the absence of neovascular maculopathy or center-involving geographic atrophy.

Valeda is shown to improve mean visual acuity of approximately 1 line of visual acuity (ETDRS) compared to those not receiving the treatment after approximately 2 years.

LumiThera’s LIGHTSITE IIIB extension trial topline results show extended vision improvement in dry AMD subjects. News release. LumiThera. May 8, 2025. Accessed May 12, 2025. 

https://lumithera.com/news/lumitheras-lightsite-iiib-extension-trial-topline-results-show-extended-vision-improvement-in-dry-amd-subjects/

Introducing the Valeda Light Delivery System. Valeda. Accessed May 12, 2025. 

Valeda met the primary end point in the US LIGHTSIDE III trial, improving the best corrected visual acuity in patients for 24 months of >5 letters or equivalent to 1 line improvement on the eye chart, according to the company.

LumiThera announces top-line results from LIGHTSITE IIIB extension trial assessing the Valeda Light Delivery System

Rhue and Canto-Sims tackle the problem of many optometry practices losing significant revenue due to ineffective follow-up systems.

The contact lens follow-up factor: The full conversation with Drs Brianna Rhue and Diana Canto-Sims

Diana Canto-Sims, OD, and Brianna Rhue, OD, FAAO, FSLS, dicuss the critical issue of contact lens patient follow-up in optometry practices by featuring Dr Contact Lens, a system designed to automate contact lens sales and patient retention. The key problem highlighted is that many optometry practices are losing significant revenue due to ineffective follow-up systems. Specifically, practices are potentially losing thousands of dollars because:

Many contact lens prescriptions are not fully captured

Patients are confused by complex pricing and multiple steps

Practices lack an efficient automated follow-up mechanism

Dr. Contact Lens offers a solution that integrates with existing electronic medical records to streamline the contact lens sales process. The system provides several key benefits, including automatic prescription tracking, patient reminder systems, simplified ordering process, and revenue recovery capabilities

Rhue shared impressive success stories, including a practice making $55,863 within 2 hours of implementation, with another practice generating $94,000 in just 1 week.

The financial implications are substantial. Without a proper system, practices could be losing approximately $200,000 per doctor annually. The Dr. Contact Lens solution costs less than $11 per day - comparable to a daily coffee purchase. Key takeaways for optometry practices include patient retention and loyalty; increased revenue and reorders; improved patient compliance and eye health; reduced staff workload; competitive advantage against online retailers; and enhanced patient experience.

Rhue emphasized that the system is not about replacing human work, but making practices more effective. The goal is to help doctors maintain control of patient care while leveraging technology to streamline processes. The discussion concluded by encouraging practices to be curious, innovative, and proactive in adopting technological solutions that can transform their contact lens patient management.

Rhue and Canto-Sims talk the value of contact lens patients, financial insights, and key benefits of implementing a contact lens management system.

The contact lens follow-up factor: A conversation with Drs Brianna Rhue and Diana Canto-Sims – Part 2

Diana Canto-Sims, OD, and Brianna Rhue, OD, FAAO, FSLS, continue their discussion on implementing a contact lens management system into optometric practices. 

To read Canto-Sims' complementary article that details contact lens management options, click 

Contact lens patients are described by Rhue as the most valuable patients for a practice, as they form the foundation of dry eye practice and IPL treatments, build myopia management practices, and often develop into patients with glaucoma due to their myopic condition.

Rhue and Canto-Sims emphasize the importance of handling prescriptions carefully. While legally required to provide prescriptions, Rhue compares each printed prescription to giving patients a $300 gift card to spend elsewhere.

The financial impact of not implementing a proper contact lens management system is significant - approximately $200,000 per doctor per year. The investment required for implementing such a system is relatively modest, described as less than $11 per day.

Key benefits of implementing a robust system

Rhue and Canto-Sims outlined several crucial benefits:

Patient retention and loyalty: It's 5 times harder to acquire new patients than to retain existing ones who already know and trust you.

Revenue and health benefits include increased revenue through reorders, improved patient adherence, better eye health through proper lens usage, and prevention of contact lens overwear.

Operational efficiency includes reduced staff workload, increased efficiency, and no need for additional staff hiring for follow-ups.

Competitive advantage: Online retailers already use automated systems, making it essential for optometry practices to implement similar solutions to remain competitive.

Enhanced patient experience: Creating a system that builds trust makes patients loyal to the practice, ensuring they wouldn't consider going elsewhere for their eye care needs. When patients like and trust their provider, they tend to remain patients for years.

Rhue and Canto-Sims state that the implementation of such systems puts optometrists in control while simultaneously giving patients the control they desire, creating a win-win situation for all parties involved. The system is designed to connect practices with their patients, maintaining the crucial doctor-patient relationship.

Rhue and Canto-Sims talk about the value of contact lens patients, financial insights, and key benefits of implementing a contact lens management system.

Rhue and Canto-Sims discuss the benefits of implementing a contact lens management system that can help improve lens sales at your practice.

The contact lens follow-up factor: A conversation with Drs Brianna Rhue and Diana Canto-Sims – Part 1

Diana Canto-Sims, OD, has a question for you. "How many of your contact lens patients are slipping through the cracks because you don't have a follow-up system?" she asks. "How much revenue are you losing every year simply because you're not following up with your contact lens patients because you don't have time?"

To answer these questions, Canto-Sims spoke with Brianna Rhue, OD, FAAO, FSLS, cofounder of Dr. Contact Lens, a system that integrates with electronic medical records to automate the contact lens sales process.

Canto-Sims and Rhue agreed that maintaining consistent patient communication can be a struggle, with contact lens follow-up often falling through the cracks.  are struggling with patient communication, often confusing patients. For example, Rhue stated that patients aren't leaving practices for their contact lens needs because of cost, but rather due to conversation complexity and confusion.

The system provides several key functionalities:

Automatically uploads prescriptions from EMR

Implementation typically takes about 2 weeks, with the process becoming faster due to AI implementation. Notable success cases include one practice making $5863 within 2 hours of implementation, with another practice preparing their patients by sending emails before going live and generating over $94,000 in 1 week.

Help retain patients from moving to online retailers

Guide practices through the process evolution

Currently, many practices are operating at around a 70% capture rate, meaning they're doing 100% of the work but only capturing 70% of sales, with 1 in 3 patients walking away. The system helps practices not just collect data but monetize them effectively for their own benefit.

At ARVO 2025, Mark Bullimore, MCOptom, PhD, emphasized the need for more accurate, condition-specific tools in evaluating myopic eye growth and treatment efficacy.

ARVO 2025: Rethinking centile growth curves in myopia management with Mark Bullimore, MCOptom, PhD

At the 2025 ARVO conference in Salt Lake City, Mark Bullimore, MCOptom, PhD, of the University of Houston College of Optometry shared a compelling critique of the current use of centile growth curves for axial length in myopia management. Speaking directly to optometrists, Bullimore emphasized the need for more accurate, condition-specific tools in evaluating myopic eye growth and treatment efficacy.

The problem with conventional growth curves

Centile growth curves—long used in pediatrics to track height and weight—are increasingly being applied to axial length measurements in children. According to Bullimore, this is where the utility of these curves begins and ends in the context of myopia.

"These curves are based on data from all children, not just myopic ones," he explained. "So they substantially underestimate axial elongation in myopic children."

This limitation has two major consequences:

 The curves fail to reflect how fast a myopic child's eye is likely to elongate.

 They hinder clinicians from accurately determining whether myopia control treatments are working.

Bullimore also cautioned against relying on axial length alone to predict myopia onset. While it has some predictive value, "cycloplegic refractive error is far more accurate," he said.

To manage myopia effectively, Bullimore recommends using data derived solely from myopic children. This would allow practitioners to assess the expected axial elongation in untreated cases and compare it meaningfully against treated ones.

“What you want is to know how quickly the average untreated myopic child’s eye will grow,” he said. “And ideally, you’d have confidence intervals or centile ranges 

By separating myopic from non-myopic data, clinicians can gain a more realistic benchmark and better evaluate the success of interventions like orthokeratology or low-dose atropine.

Bullimore’s insights at ARVO underscore the importance of precision in pediatric myopia care. As the prevalence of childhood myopia continues to rise, refining the tools we use to monitor progression and assess treatment outcomes is more critical than ever.

Conference

I have spent a good part of my career focused on dry eye and ocular surface disease. I believe that I have a good grasp of current diagnostic and management strategies for patients who are clinically and symptomatically affected by alterations/dysfunction of the ocular surface.

Recently, the expertise I have gained in my career took a turn into my personal life. This year, one of my longest and best friends, Karen, was diagnosed with a cancerous lesion. The treatment plan was comprehensive and included infusion chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation.

Karen, an executive vice president in the health care space, was thorough in her research regarding her oncologist’s road map to being cancer free. Naturally, the risks, benefits, and rewards of management were weighed and acknowledged by a second opinion. In her research and in an effort to blunt some of the adverse effects of cytotoxic chemotherapy agents (most notably hair loss), Karen elected to proceed with “cold capping.” To cold cap, the patient wears a cooling cap or device on the scalp before, during, and after chemotherapy treatments. The cooling effect constricts blood vessels in the scalp, which reduces blood flow and minimizes the exposure of hair follicles to the chemotherapy drugs, and may prevent hair loss.

Well into her infusion therapy, Karen called to ask my advice for her eyes, which had become dry and irritated. These were new sensations for Karen, who had never worn contact lenses or experienced chronic eye discomfort. Of note, although Karen retained most of her hair, her eyebrows and eyelashes were lost.

Besides helping to prevent foreign bodies from entering the eye, recall that our eyelashes help direct air currents away from the ocular surface, limiting surface desiccation.

 Was the loss of Karen’s eyelashes the cause or a contributor to her dry eye concerns? Did chemotherapy precipitate something beyond the obvious?

Research demonstrates that many patients undergoing chemotherapy (for a variety of malignancies) will experience dry eye symptoms that may be related to identifiable corneal changes induced by the cytotoxic therapeutic agent.

Corneal confocal microscopy has identified that antineoplastic drugs negatively affect the corneal subbasal nerve plexus (thinner and reduced number of nerves). Additionally, corneal alterations secondary to chemotherapy, particularly microcytic-like epithelial changes induced by biological drugs and antibody-drug conjugates, are recognized as chemotherapy-induced corneal toxicity.

Renowned cancer care hospital Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York, prepares patients undergoing certain types of chemotherapy with ocular therapy to reduce the onset or worsening of dry eye secondary to treatment. Preventive/therapeutic management to reduce ocular adverse effects of cytotoxic agents can include cooling masks or ice bags on the eye/adnexal area before, during, and after drug infusions; brimonidine drops to vasoconstrict ocular blood vessels; a topical steroid; and lubricating drops.

Adverse anterior, posterior, and other adverse ocular effects of the variety of classes of chemotherapy drugs are multiple and can manifest in epiphora, conjunctivitis, uveitis, visual field defects, cataracts, optic neuropathy, corneal erosions, and retinopathy, among other conditions.

Because this was the first time in all my years of friendship with Karen that she reported significant ocular dryness, I initiated a palliative regimen consisting of preservative‑free artificial tears, eyelid occlusion during naps and at bedtime, local ambient humidification, and protective eyewear as needed both indoors and outdoors. Since I was unable to perform an in‑office examination, I recommended that she follow up with her own optometrist to rule out any chemotherapy‑related ocular changes and keep her oncologist informed of her symptoms. Fortunately, this initial therapy carried her comfortably through the remainder of her oncology treatment.

Now that her chemotherapy has concluded, Karen’s eyelashes and eyebrows have fully regenerated and her dryness symptoms have markedly improved. It was deeply gratifying to be able to support her in this way, and I remain grateful to all the researchers and clinicians who continue to advance our treatment options for dry eye patients.

Ocular toxicity induced by chemotherapeutic agents is often underestimated. It would be a service to our patients to conduct comprehensive patient history updates to educate patients about ocular effects prior to, during, or after cancer treatment. I certainly was remiss in this regard. However, going forward, I will keep this lesson top of mind so that patients (and friends) are well-informed and prepared for ocular adverse effects of chemotherapy.

Amador GJ, Mao W, DeMercurio P, et al. Eyelashes divert airflow to protect the eye. 

. 2015;12(105):20141294. doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.1294

Ma J, Pazo EE, Zou Z, Jin F. Prevalence of symptomatic dry eye in breast cancer patients undergoing systemic adjuvant treatment: a cross-sectional study. 

. 2020;53:164-171. doi:10.1016/j.breast.2020.07.009

Cosmo E, Midena G, Parrozzani R, Midena E. Chemotherapy induced corneal changes assessed by corneal confocal microscopy: a review. 

. 2024;14(21):2399. doi:10.3390/diagnostics14212399

Stoicescu EA, Iancu RC, Popa Cherecheanu A, Iancu G. Ocular adverse effects of anti-cancer chemotherapy. 

. 2023;16(6):818-821. doi:10.25122/jml-2023-0041

When her friend began experiencing dry eye symptoms while undergoing chemotherapy, Katherine Mastrota, OD, MS, FAAO, Dipl ABO, found herself in a unique position to provide specialized advice.

Paul Smith

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