Watch as optometrist Meenal Agarwal shares her story and passion for myopia control. Dr. Meenal Agarwal is the owner of the Pickering Town Centre Optometric Clinic in Ontario, Canada.

Video Transcript

What inspired me to start myopia management was really a personal journey that I experienced. So, growing up, I was a minus ten, and that really impacted my lifestyle. And I really wish now, looking back, that I was one of those children that could have had myopia control options and I didn’t have to live my life being a minus ten. More than fifty percent of parents are unaware of the link between myopia and disease. For the parent, it’s a number going from minus two to minus three. But for me, as a clinician, that patient might develop myopic maculopathy, retinal detachments, glaucoma, and early cataracts.

So, I present it as a disease first. And then I talk about how are we gonna monitor that disease. And in order to monitor that disease, I need to start with a baseline axial length measurement and monitor that over time. When some of my patients are on myopia control methods, but their axial length is still increasing, that’s an indication or a tool for me to be able to know how to better manage that patient and possibly add a secondary or dual therapy method. So, for me, measuring axial length with the MYAH is a key baseline measurement that should be done on all of our pediatric patients, whether they’re pre-myopes, slightly myopic, or highly myopic. And we really need to start taking action as a profession in controlling this disease.