A look into the OD's role in the management of MIGS

Optometry Times'® Kassi Jackson talks with Justin Schweitzer, OD, optometric externship director with Vance Thompson Vision in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and one of the associate directors of the optometric residency program at Vance Thompson Vision, about his presentation titled, "The OD's Role in the Management of MIGS in 2022," which he is presenting during this year's AOA annual meeting in Chicago.

"Optometry, in general, needs to be involved in thinking about managing patients with minimally invasive glaucoma procedures," Schweitzer said.

Though ODs aren't the ones performing MIGS procedures, he said the terminology he thinks about is "interventional glaucoma" and how to intervene earlier in the disease process of glaucoma patients.

"By the year 2030, there's going to be about 4.1 million Americans with glaucoma; and by the year 2050, there's going to be about 6.3 million Americans with glaucoma," Schweitzer said.

"And the facts are that if we don't work hand-in-hand with ophthalmology and embrace some of these procedures, and embrace the management of glaucoma, embrace the postoperative care of MIGS procedures, the only people that are likely going to suffer will be our patients." - Justin Schweitzer, OD.

Key takeaways:

• Glaucoma is a medical disease, as well as a surgical disease; it is a marathon, not a sprint.
• Glaucoma treatment and management is collaborative.
• It is important to balance safety and effectiveness, and MIGS fits into that category.