Optometric and ophthalmic forces unite at EyeCon 2025

The Ophthalmology Times and Optometry Times EyeCon^TM 2025 conference provided opportunities to take in both some sunshine and CE at the Margaritaville Hollywood Beach Resort, Hollywood, Florida, on September 26 and 27, 2025. Optometrists and ophthalmologists alike benefited from sharing insights, fostering partnerships, and learning the latest on how to hone their comanagement skills. This year, education committee members Joseph Allen, OD, FAAO, DipABO; Sruthi Arepalli, MD; Jade Coats, OD, FAAO; and Tosin U. Smith, MD, led the education efforts that spanned corneal disease and glaucoma to myopia and uveitis. In case you missed them, here are some key takeaways from the conference.

Stopping myopia in its tracks

Mark Bullimore, PhD, MCOptom, FAAO, affiliated with the University of Houston College of Optometry and based in Boulder, Colorado, discussed myopia management with his former student and colleague, Vishakha Thakrar, OD, FAAO, FSLS, at the conference. The discussion provided critical insights into the growing public health significance of myopia and the importance of proactive management strategies. Bullimore emphasized the escalating concern of myopia, highlighting a crucial statistic: Each diopter of myopia increases the risk of uncorrectable visual impairment by approximately 30%. This underscores the critical need for health care professionals to be well informed and prepared to address myopia in pediatric patients.

“If you’re seeing children of any age, you need to at least be aware of what the options are for myopia management,” Bullimore said. “You also need to be prepared to refer a patient to somebody who is practicing myopia management and prescribing contact lenses or other options so that the child can be appropriately managed.”

Bullimore also weighed in on the FDA’s marketing authorization of Essilor Stellest eyeglass lenses for the correction of myopia with or without astigmatism. “That’s huge news for a number of reasons,” he said. “One is that it’s only the second such approval; the first one was a little over 6 years ago, and also now it brings spectacles into the game, and obviously that’s a much easier entry level than putting a child into contact lenses right away.”

New treatments in dry eye

Allen led a session on anterior segment dry eye alongside cornea specialist Rahul Tonk, MD, during the conference, which tackled complex cases and new strategies for management.

“One of the newer treatments that has become available in the last few years, that I have been adopting and utilizing more often, is perfluorohexyloctane,” Allen said. He explained that this therapy has been useful for patients with a range of conditions, from mild dry eye to more advanced stages involving meibomian gland loss or exposure issues. “Those patients, I find, are finding not only improvements in their own dry eye symptoms, but I’m seeing improvements on the ocular surface when I see them for follow-ups.”

Allen also noted that therapeutic interventions may be underused, including amniotic membrane therapy. Although this particular therapy is often reserved for more extreme cases, he has found that earlier intervention has also shown its benefits. “Intervening earlier on with those types of therapies, I’m finding basically a better resolution, not only of the ocular signs, but we see faster resolution with the additional treatments that we’re often prescribing.”

Encountering ocular trauma

In her experience in a 24/7 ophthalmic emergency department, Alison Bozung, OD, FAAO, has seen her fair share of ocular trauma cases, from open globes and intraocular foreign bodies to corneal abrasions and subconjunctival hemorrhages. Presenting alongside Thomas Albini, MD, Bozung shared the insights she has gained on both anterior and posterior segment injuries and what optometrists who may encounter trauma in various practice settings need to know about treatment.

“Be ready to handle as much as you can, and then know your limit of what you can do and what you need to get help on is also very critical, too,” Bozung said, adding that reliable professional networks come in handy when needing referrals and second opinions. “Having a good network of people that you can refer to or get second opinions if you need to is super important. So you don’t feel like you’re on an island by yourself treating all these crazy things.”

Ultimately, Bozung said that the best way to gain expertise is to use on-the-job experience as a way to obtain knowledge. “Having a really strong background in ocular disease and pathology and understanding how different parts of the eye work together is absolutely critical from a baseline standpoint,” she said. “Being able to see any red flags that might come up and being aware of what potential traumas may be more hidden or disguised, for example, is very important. Just having a keen eye for small details and never glossing over something that doesn’t quite line up.”