Patients and their eye health: Experts weigh in

In Seattle, Washington, we spoke with researchers and industry professionals at the 2023 ASRS meeting in Seattle, Washington. We asked them, "What do you wish patients knew about eye health?"

Here's what Michael Ip, MD, Shawn Kavoussi, MD, and Megan Baldwin, PhD, had to say!

Video Transcript

Editor's note - This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Michael Ip, MD: I wish they knew more about wearing eye protection for various common activities. I can think of one patient who had an unfortunate incident of open globe injury while mowing his lawn, and while wearing sunglasses. So I wish patients would consider using wraparound safety goggles for a variety of activities that may pose some risks.

Shawn Kavoussi, MD: Eye health is very important with respect to knowing that there are many very effective treatments out there that are currently available...in terms of advancing the field. Currently in the field, there are many FDA-approved, community standard treatments that are highly effective for common diseases such as neovascular age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. The earlier the patient has come to attention to the medical professionals, the better the results are. I do wish that a lot of patients understood that. Earlier detection and early treatment leads to better outcomes.

Megan Baldwin, PhD: I think that many patients are focused on obviously, improving the outcomes. They absolutely want to have the best possible gains in their visual acuity so they can go about their normal, everyday lives. I think that a lot of the focus of many of the drug development programs right now just on treatment burden, [and] I think that patients themselves really just want to have the best possible efficacy outcomes so that they can continue to maintain independent lives, reduce burden on caregivers, etc. Let's keep pushing the frontiers of new science and new approaches so that we can actually achieve that for them.