CE Event Recap: Vuity and High Myopia
On May 2, 2024, Retina Consultants of Texas presented a virtual CE webinar about pilocarpine eye drops (i.e., Vuity®), myopia, and retinal detachments. Hosted by Dr. Ankoor Shah, the webinar was split into two presentations by Dr. Hasenin Al-khersan and Dr. Sagar B. Patel.
Dr. Al-khersan: Pilocarpine, Presbyopia, and Retinal Detachments
Dr. Al-khersan’s presentation focused on two cases of patients who had been prescribed Vuity® eye drops for presbyopia, a condition in which the eye’s lens hardens and cannot change shape, causing objects to appear blurry when viewed up close. Both patients subsequently rapidly developed symptomatic posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) shortly after initiating the Vuity® treatment, with one of the patients developing retinal detachment in both eyes.
These two cases illustrated the importance of post-market surveillance when developing and approving medications for certain uses. Although Vuity® is approved to treat presbyopia, the clinical trials that led to its approval had specifically excluded individuals who had a high risk of retinal detachment. To circumvent the risk of patients experiencing retinal detachment, Dr. Al-khersan highlighted the importance of performing a dilated fundus exam before prescribing miotics for overall risk assessment, as well as optical coherence tomography (OCT), depending on clinical suspicions.
Dr. Patel: Pathologic Myopia
Dr. Patel’s presentation gave an extensive overview of high myopia, explaining how myopia causes elongation of the axial length, which stretches the ocular layers and leads to progressive thinning of the choroid and sclera. He also discussed risk factors of myopia, including environmental factors, genetics, and age.
Dr. Patel went into great detail about the signs of high myopia, such as lacquering, Fuchs spots, choroidal thinning, and patchy retinal atrophy in the posterior pole. Lastly, he gave an extensive overview of myopia-related complications, touching on conditions such as subretinal hemorrhage, choroidal neovascularization, myopic choroidal atrophy, myopic traction maculopathy, dome-shamed macula, macular holes, and retinal detachment.
We invite you to watch the full video of our “Vuity and High Myopia” presentation on our YouTube channel. To attend Retina Consultants of Texas’s next CE Zoom event, please register here for updates.
