Author Coco Cui making her myopia leader video for the 2024 EssilorLuxottica ANZ Myopia Leaders Group meeting

On a beautiful day in North Sydney, CooperVision and EssilorLuxottica welcomed 40 optometrists from across Australia and New Zealand to the annual Myopia Leaders programme. This was first initiated in 2023, with the aim of bringing best-practice myopia management across OPSM practices through a network of enthusiastic and passionate optometrists.

This year’s focus was to ‘Advocate, educate and lead in best practice myopia control’. The programme kicked off by sharing the current myopia control trends and barriers observed in 2024. One of the key ways of bringing ‘Roadtrip to myopia control’ into practice is collaboration between retail and optometry teams. There is no wrong or right time for discussing myopia and associated management plans – any point in the customer journey can be an opportunity! Within each practice, the goal is to look after every customer eligible for myopia control, whether they are an existing patient or have walked in with an interest in new spectacles.

This year’s cohort of EssilorLuxottica ANZ’s myopia leaders

One of OPSM’s greatest accomplishments was its development of the OPSM Myopia Management Resource Packs, suitable for both practitioner and patient use. The dedicated investment in these resources aims to broaden education in the community to lessen the burden of progressive myopia.

Throughout this and last year’s conferences, engaging group discussions led by participating myopia leaders looked at the common challenges and solutions for prescribing myopia control. Four leaders from last year’s cohort were given a unique and exciting opportunity to film a short video: Luxottica’s Tiffany Lee, plus OPSM’s Daniel Wong, Mehek Dutta and I discussed the four main methods of myopia control, including the mechanism of action, benefits, side effects and associated resources. It was exciting to share our passion for raising awareness about myopia control and what it can do.

Information on the latest insights and research was also presented by Dr Rohan Hughes, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Contact Lens and Visual Optics Laboratory at the Centre for Eye and Vision Research at Queensland University of Technology, and the CooperVision Myopia Team. The presentations included insights about managing binocular vision in symptomatic low-dose atropine users, orthokeratology and optical treatments for patients over 16 years old.

This year’s programme ended with a delightful social dinner at The Tree House with the CooperVision and EssilorLuxottica eyecare teams. Following the end of the event, we all discussed our feedback and learnings. The event provided a rare opportunity to connect across ANZ to share insights and reinvigorate our passion for myopia management. There was appreciation for today’s approaches to myopia control and recognition of the importance of early intervention. Advocating, educating and leading does not stop here – all of this year’s myopia leaders have now returned to their own clinical practice to positively influence their peers and promote best-practice myopia management.

Being part of the myopia leaders group has been inspirational and I look forward to participating in future myopia workshops.

Coco Cui is an optometrist with OPSM Botany Downs, an honorary professional teaching fellow at the University of Auckland and was this year’s New Zealand-based EssilorLuxottica’s ‘Early Career Optometrist of the Year’.