Industry News
Researchers Launch Innovative App to Tackle Myopia
In a significant development for eye care professionals worldwide, researchers from Ulster University's Centre for Optometry and Vision Science have unveiled a groundbreaking app designed to assist optometrists in the early identification and management of myopia, also known as short-sightedness. The launch of the free app, aptly named 'PreMO' (Predicting Myopia Onset and Progression), coincided with World Sight Day, underscoring its global impact.
Myopia has seen a concerning rise in recent years, making the need for effective tools to manage it more crucial than ever. 'PreMO' provides optometrists with a reliable, evidence-based method to swiftly categorize a patient's risk of myopia and its progression, all through simple measurements taken during an eye clinic visit.
The app's development draws from a novel data-driven approach derived from extensive research conducted by Ulster University, with findings published in peer-reviewed international journals. 'PreMO' promises to aid eye care providers, their patients, and parents or caregivers in addressing the challenges posed by myopia.
To create this cutting-edge app, specialists at Ulster University collaborated with software experts at Wolffsohn Research and partnered with Aston University, Birmingham. 'PreMO' has the remarkable capability to generate immediate patient-friendly data summaries, which can be shared with parents and children via personalized patient reports. This empowers parents to gain a better understanding of their child's visual health, while assisting optometrists in providing the most appropriate advice and treatment options.
The app goes beyond identifying existing myopia; it can also flag younger patients at risk of developing myopia, even if they are not yet short-sighted. Clinicians can utilize 'PreMO' as an educational tool, working with caregivers to encourage lifestyle changes that reduce the risk and explaining the available treatments, including myopia control spectacles and contact lenses.
Professor Kathryn J Saunders, from the School of Biomedical Sciences & Centre for Optometry and Vision Science Research at Ulster University, emphasized the app's importance, saying, "Our research conducted at Ulster University has shown that myopia, known as short-sightedness, is more than twice as common now as it was 50 years ago, and that children in the UK are becoming short-sighted earlier than in previous decades."
She continued, "Myopia is predicted to affect half the world's population by 2050, and the World Health Organization has declared myopia a global health concern, which was a key factor in the rationale behind creating this specialist software, as it will have a significant impact on helping to prevent or delay the onset of myopia."
The onset of myopia, typically starting in primary school years, stems from the eye growing too long, with the condition usually worsening as the child's eye continues to grow into the teenage years. Traditional management of myopia primarily involved providing increasingly strong glasses or contact lenses to ensure clear vision, but this escalating trend is worrying, as higher levels of myopia are linked to potentially sight-threatening eye diseases later in life.
However, new options like 'myopia control' spectacles and contact lenses have emerged, enabling optometrists to restrict the progression of myopia. Research has also indicated that lifestyle modifications before myopia develops can help prevent or delay its onset. The 'PreMO' app aims to empower optometrists to identify and support children with myopia, ensuring they receive the best advice and treatment options.
Professor James Wolffsohn, Head of Optometry at Aston University, highlighted the impact of this innovation, stating, "After many years of research into the impact of myopia, we now have treatments to slow its progression and even decrease how often it occurs. The app will support clinicians in predicting those children who will go myopic, to track their progress with myopia control treatments, to provide better communication to the child and their parents and guardians, and to personalize their eye health."
The 'PreMO' app was unveiled to a professional audience of eye care colleagues at an event in Belfast on World Sight Day, Thursday, October 12. It is now accessible for free to eye care clinicians at https://premo-live.web.app/.
