Awareness gap on myopia risk stalls early intervention in children

CooperVision entered Japan and is equipping clinicians with talk tracks to convert myopia awareness into action.

CooperVision is expanding myopia management across Asia-Pacific by focusing on product access and education, as high myopia rates increase the need for earlier intervention in children.

In an interview during the Asia-Pacific Myopia Management Symposium (APMMS) last May 10, Jennifer Lambert, Vice President, Myopia Management & Cornea Care at CooperVision, said the company’s strategy is built on two priorities: helping markets approve products and making sure clinicians, parents and consumers understand available treatment options.

“With myopia rates so high in the region, our two key pillars of our strategy are access and education,” Lambert said.

Access requires working with governments so products can be understood and approved. Lambert said Japan is one of CooperVision’s newest myopia markets, showing how market entry remains a major part of scaling care across the region.

Education is the second priority. CooperVision is working with professional societies, eye care professionals, consumers and parents to raise awareness of myopia management options. The challenge, Lambert said, is that awareness of myopia risk does not always lead to action.

“While everyone understands on an intellectual level the problems and the dangers of myopia, there's a gap between that understanding and actions,” Lambert said.

That action gap is also the biggest commercial opportunity in myopia care. CooperVision sees early intervention among children as the key growth area, particularly where families and clinicians already understand the risks but have not yet changed behaviour.

Lambert said the goal is to move understanding “from a clinical perspective to internalizing and believing and making it happen.”

CooperVision is also working with eye care professionals to drive wider adoption. Lambert said the company partners with professional associations in key markets to support the standard of care among clinicians.

At the practice level, CooperVision provides coaching materials, marketing support and parent talk tracks to help eye care professionals explain treatment options more clearly.

For Lambert, scaling myopia management depends on turning awareness into earlier treatment decisions.