This week in optometry: December 25-December 29
Catch up on what happened in optometry during the week of December 25-December 29.
Catch up with what Optometry Times shared this week:
Report predicts global eyewear boom: Estimated 76 billion USD growth by 2027
By Marlisa Miller, Editorial Intern; Emily Kaiser Maharjan, Assistant Managing Editor
According to a report by Technavio, the eyewear market is expected to experience booming growth between 2023 and 2027. As eye care providers see more patients who display the effects of prolonged digital device use, decreased time outside, and lifestyle changes of an aging population, they are expected to prescribe or influence more patients to purchase eyeglasses, sunglasses, and contact lenses than ever before. There is a significant projected growth, Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.9% for the eyewear market. The growth is expected to increase the market size to approximately $76 billion.
Optometry in the rearview: Top 5 stories from 2023
By Emily Kaiser Maharjan, Assistant Managing Editor
As is tradition in popular culture, it's time to wrap up the year with a list of what happened here at Optometry Times. We traversed many topics together, from a large number of eye drop recalls due to contamination to the burgeoning pipeline of new eye care products, and the editors and staff appreciate your readership this year and look forward to forging ahead in 2024.
Keratoconus overview: History, etiology, and diagnosis
By Andrew S. Morgenstern, OD, FAAO, FNAP
Keratoconus is a disease of the cornea that, if left untreated, can lead to loss of vision, decrease in quality of life, and potentially blindness. As optometrists, we are the gatekeepers of the management of keratoconus, barring the increasingly reduced amount of partial or full-thickness corneal surgical transplants performed. In the United States, this is because we now have an FDA-approved, safe, and effective incision-free treatment/procedure—corneal cross-linking (CXL)—to halt or slow the progression of this increasing public health concern.
New shape for the punctal plug better fits into the punctum
By Lynda Charters
Silicone punctal plugs have been the decades-long mainstay for physicians treating patients with dry eye. The plugs do their job, preventing loss of tears, but are associated with a few complications.
Robert Latkany, MD, who is in private practice in New York, United States, devised a new and improved punctal plug, the Soft Plug Extended Duration 180 (Oasis Medical) that may circumvent the issues associated with both silicone plugs and other existing temporary plugs. Silicone plugs can often fall out as early as the next follow-up visit, patients frequently complain of a foreign body sensation, and silicone plugs can result in the formation of a pyogenic granuloma in the punctum. Temporary plugs are sometimes difficult to insert and are often undersized.
What’s your whEYE? What motivates Bobak Azamian, CEO of Tarsus
By Bobak Azamian, MD, PhD; Mile Brujic, OD, FAAO
In an exclusive interview with Mile Brujic, OD, FAAO; Bobak Azamian, MD, PhD, shares what gets him out of bed every morning. In this inaugural installment of "What's Your WhEYE?" Brujic asks Azamian to share his journey from practicing medicine to corporate leadership, what drives his ambitions to formulate new treatments for Demodex blepharitis and beyond, and how his job often feels personal.
