PRACTICE TIP: Check the social media accounts of potential hires
After you’ve reviewed the résumés of potential hires for your practice and decided whom you want to follow up on, be sure to check how they present themselves on any public social media profiles. In her latest “Staffing” column, Dr. Patricia Fulmer writes that checking an applicant’s Facebook, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn profiles can all offer insight into an applicant’s personality and habits, and can tell you if you’d be comfortable having them represent your practice. To read more of Dr. Fulmer’s hiring advice, click here. 

“Research Notes,” for Alimera Science, Nanodropper, Nicox, and OKYO appear at the end of this week’s OD Notebook.

AOA asks for comment on practice guidelines for open-angle glaucoma
The American Optometric Association (AOA) announced the first edition of the AOA’s evidence-based clinical practice guideline, Care of the Patient with Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma, is now available online for a 30-day review period. Developed by the AOA Evidence-based Optometry Guideline Development Group in accordance with standards outlined by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), the first edition can be found here and comments and suggestions submitted here. Comments will be accepted through April 24. The finished guidelines will be available later in 2024.

CLI partnership has EyeDocs of Rock rebrand to Good Habits
Rock band The EyeDocs of Rock (also known as Bad Habits) temporarily changed their name to the Good Habits during their performance at the 2024 Vision Expo East opening event in New York. The one-night rebrand was the result of a partnership with the Contact Lens Institute (CLI).

The industry association is previewing new consumer research that shows how simple adjustments to how eye care practices communicate with patients can spark increased contact lens prescribing—bad habits made good.

CooperVision treats initial children in Generation Sight initiative
CooperVision has launched its initiative Generation Sight with the first children enrolled in Boston and Chicago. The program offers MiSight 1 day soft contact lenses and Paragon CRT orthokeratology contact lenses at no cost for as long as participating children require treatment for their myopia. In other CooperVision news, the company has enhanced several educational opportunities for U.S. & Canadian optometry students and residents. These include: CooperVision’s Give Brightly program offering optometry students with additional “hands-on” fitting experience while enabling them to gift a one-year supply of contact lenses to patients in need; and members of the company’s Student Leadership Societies being able to attend a three-day educational meeting with networking opportunities at CooperVision’s facilities in Rochester, N.Y.

Engage Technologies Group launches Practice Performance System
Engage Technologies Group has released Practice Performance System, a software designed to optimize aesthetics practices. It offers a dual focus on EMR and practice management system functions, an extensive library of automated, SMS-delivered patient journeys, and optimization tools with real-time analytics

EssilorLuxottica, WCO partner to raise awareness of presbyopia and aging eye
EssilorLuxottica and the World Council of Optometry (WCO) have announced a global partnership to raise the awareness and understanding of presbyopia and the aging eye, with the aim to establish standards of care for eye care professionals to follow when managing the condition. This initiative is also meant to help eye care professionals with the latest evidence-based scientific approaches, tools and resources focused on the three pillars of mitigation, measurement, and management of presbyopia. 

Lighthouse Guild offers eclipse tips suitable for sharing
The Lighthouse Guild offers five tips, suitable for sharing with your patients and social media, to help your patients to protect their eyes while viewing the eclipse on Monday, April 8:

• One safe way to look directly at the sun is through special-purpose solar filters, such as “eclipse glasses” or handheld solar viewers. Homemade filters or ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, are not safe for looking at the sun. They transmit thousands of times too much sunlight.
• If you normally wear eyeglasses, keep them on. Put your eclipse glasses on over them or hold your handheld viewer in front of them.
• Stand still and cover your eyes with your eclipse glasses or solar viewer before looking up at the bright sun. After looking at the sun, turn away and remove your filter. Do not remove it while looking at the sun.
• Do not look at the sun through a camera, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while using your eclipse glasses or handheld solar viewer. The concentrated solar rays could damage the eclipse glasses and allow harmful rays to enter your eyes, causing serious injury.
• Never look at the sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars, or other optical device.

Mconsent expands optometry services
Mconsent, which offers digital management practice solutions, has introduced additional tools to its services offered to optometry practices. These include paperless patient intake and streamlined billing solutions, designed specifically for optometrists. For more information, click here.

Oculogenex to research vision loss on International Space Station
Oculogenex is set to launch research to the International Space Station (ISS) aimed at preventing, and possibly reversing, age-related vision loss. Set to take place with ISS’s next commercial resupply,  Dr. Hema Ramkumar, founder and CEO of Oculogenex, discussed this on a recent webinar, which can be found here.

Opticianry organizations announce merger effective July 1
The Opticians Association of America (OAA), and the National Federation of Opticianry Schools (NFOS), have completed a merger, with continuing funding provided by the American Board of Opticianry & National Contact Lens Examiners (ABO & NCLE) that has created a model Opticianry Association representing over 80,000 opticians and contact lens professionals throughout North America. The new organization will be named United Opticians Association and will begin operations on July 1, 2024.

SUNY College of Optometry president to retire in June
SUNY College of Optometry President Dr. David A. Heath is retiring as president in June after 17 years of leadership and service to the college community. For more information about Dr. David A. Heath's retirement and contributions to the college, see his Retirement Announcement from September 2023.

Valley Contax launches diagnostic scleral lenses giveaway for qualifying optometry graduates
Valley Contax has launched its complimentary diagnostic scleral lens giveaway for optometry graduates in partnership with Contamac. Upon completion of the basic and advanced Custom Stable training courses, graduates will receive a premium compact fitting set of Custom Stable Elite lenses manufactured in Optimum Extra. For more information on how 2024 graduates can take advantage of this opportunity, please visit the student portal page here.

Virtual Vision Health takes Virtual Eye Pro on the road to ASCRS 2024
Virtual Vision Health will showcase new testing features in the Virtual Eye Pro at ASCRS 2024. Doctors will be able to demo and discover firsthand how this new technology can benefit patient satisfaction and practice workflow. Two features of the virtual reality visual field headset are live eye monitoring and streaming, and pupillography.

Vision Expo East wraps up 2024 meeting, sets sights on Orlando for 2025
Vision Expo East concluded its 2024 meeting on March 17, the last to be held in New York City before moving to Orlando for February 2025. More than 450 exhibitors and more than 200 educational sessions were held March 14 to 17 in NYC’s Javits Center, the home of the expo for nearly 40 years. More information on Vision Expo East can be found here.

Research Notes

• Alimera Sciences announced that the first patient has been randomized in the DRCR Retina Network’s Protocol AL. The study is titled, “A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating Intravitreal Faricimab (6.0 mg) Injections or Fluocinolone Acetonide (0.19 mg) Intravitreal Implants vs Observation for Prevention of Visual Acuity Loss due to Radiation Retinopathy.” The study plans to enroll 600 participants.
• Nanodropper announced the results of its clinical trial, “An Evaluation of the Efficacy and Safety of Timolol Maleate 0.5% Microdrops Administered with the Nanodropper," published in Ophthalmology. The study found no clinically significant difference in the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering effects of microdrops administered with the Nanodropper Adaptor compared to conventional eyedrops of timolol. The full study can be found here.
• Nicox has shared the results of its Mont Blanc Phase 3 trial, which examines the effectiveness of NCX 470, a nitric oxide-donating bimatoprost eye drop, at lowering intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. The results, published in American Journal of Ophthalmology, concluded that NCX 470 was well-tolerated and effective at lowering IOP in patients. The full study can be found here.
• OKYO plans to release data today from its Phase 2 trial of OK-101, for treatment of dry eye disease. The company will host a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) call to discuss the findings in-depth. In a previous preliminary data readout, OK-101 showed statistically significant drug effects in FDA-recognized efficacy endpoints as early as the 15-day first visit after dosing. Additionally, statistically significant improvements were observed in both a “sign” (total conjunctival staining) and two “symptoms” (burning/stinging and blurred vision), which are FDA-recognized endpoints of dry eye disease.