EACH MONTH, Contact Lens Spectrum broadcasts a livestream series called CLS Live! during which the host sits down with leaders in the world of contact lenses to discuss new and future products, the latest research, and worldwide trends in prescribing—and even brings viewers up to date live from the floor of CLS conferences such as the Global Specialty Lens Symposium (GSLS).

This episode, which aired on April 25, was hosted by Ashley Wallace-Tucker, OD, a partner at Bellaire Family Eye Care in the Houston area and a GSLS program committee member. She spoke with Glenda Aleman Moheeputh, OD, founder and CEO of iSmart Vision Care and OK Love Myopia Control Experts. This episode is second in a three-part series that tackles diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), particularly as it pertains to optometry.

Q: Ashley Wallace-Tucker, OD: Please share the story of your journey into optometry.

A: Glenda Aleman Moheeputh, OD: I fell into this field kind of as a coincidence. I went to pick up my sister from a job interview as a sales associate in optical in Honduras, and I was the one who ended up with the job.

My first job in the U.S. was at a Walmart Vision Center as a sales associate; the more I learned and grew into this field, I fell in love with optometry and helping [patients] with their eye health. I then got promoted to vision center manager [after one year]. During that time, I knew that I needed to do something else, that I was going to go back to school.

One day, this gentleman—whom I wish I could meet again—got a vision screening. When I was taking him back to the vision center to get an eye exam, I said, “Let’s go get your eye exam. I’m going to introduce you to the doctor.” He looked at me and said, “What do you mean, you’re not the doctor?” I replied, “No, I’m not the doctor.” He asked, “Why not?” The moment he said that, something just clicked. I said, “You’re right—why not?” I looked him in the eyes and said, “I will become an eye doctor,” and he probably thought I was kidding.

That same day, I signed up for the [American Board of Opticianry certification]. Realistically speaking, I couldn’t go directly to optometry school. I did go to Nova Southeastern University, and they said, “Well, before you can come to Nova, you have to go to undergrad.” I didn’t even know what undergrad meant back then. I went to the community college that was next to Nova; I enrolled and started my journey, and became a licensed optician first. While I was in opticianry school, my passion and my love for eye care just grew even more.

When I was in my third year of optometry school, we did rotations. Whenever I went to my pediatric rotation, I just felt that was what I was meant to do. Around that time, we had a lecture on myopia management. I thought, “Well, if I’m going to do pediatrics, I have to learn this,” and I put it in my head that I was going to open a pediatric practice with a myopia management emphasis. When I graduated, the first job that I got was in a boutique-style private practice. It was a full-scope optometry practice with a focus on pediatrics and an emphasis on myopia management, [which was] exactly what I wanted to do.

Q: Dr. Wallace-Tucker: I think we share a love for specialty contact lenses for myopia management, and we know that those are higher-level services that sometimes patients are in need of but can’t necessarily afford. I find it so fascinating that you have been able to create a referral-based, orthokeratology-based practice in a retail space. Can you share how that’s allowed you to care for people of different backgrounds?

A: Dr. Moheeputh: When I attended the first Vision by Design (VBD) conference, I was still in New York in this nice little boutique optical that was in a very affluent area. That practice met every single item on the checklist. Everybody said: “If you want to open a myopia management practice, you need to look for an Asian community; and you need to be in an affluent area where people have more means because these are the areas where you’re going to do really well because these are high-ticket items.”

[While at] VBD, and I knew that I wanted to do myopia management, but it was also time for me to move back to Miami and start my commercial lease. When I was there, I met a few concerned people [who asked]: “You’re not going to do [ortho-k] in Walmart, right?” [The fact that they even asked me that] made me very upset, the idea that they would think that I shouldn’t [offer ortho-k or myopia control treatments to those who go to Walmart]. I replied, “That’s exactly my plan: to do [ortho-k] in Walmart, because [every] patient needs to have access to [every treatment that is avialable.] Hence my motto: no child left behind,” which applies so well to myopia management and, really, any treatment. Every child [and parent] should have at least the option to understand and learn about these treatments. Our job as physicians is to educate the parents so they can make that decision [about their child’s treatment].

When I started at Walmart, it was challenging, and my colleagues who were in private practice were skeptical about sending their patients to Walmart. “I’m in a private practice, so how am I going to tell my patient that now I’m going to send them to a specialist at Walmart?” It was hard for them to wrap their heads around that, but after consistently educating my colleagues about the treatments that I was doing and sharing results, it convinced them: “Wow, this really works!”

I started getting a lot of referrals. Nowadays, we have three locations: two of them are Walmart leases, the other one is a private practice. I’m very proud of my colleagues because that’s no longer an issue. Nobody asks me, “Are you going to see them at your Walmart or your private office?” They just say, “OK, do you want me to send these patients to your Miami location or your Broward location?” Which is amazing because, in the beginning, they were a little reluctant sending patients to Walmart.

I think that if anyone is in a retail lease, and they have a retail partner, it’s important for them to know that [as an independent optometrist] they can [offer myopia control treatments to the patients]. I feel like [being in a retail space] we have to work extra hard to establish ourselves as specialists and to show our colleagues that we’re capable and qualified to do these treatments, and it doesn’t take anything away from the treatment because we’re doing it in a [retail setting]. I have state-of-the-art equipment in all my practices.

With lots of networking and educating my colleagues, I was able to overcome those challenges.

Q: Dr. Wallace-Tucker: Do you find that when convincing parents to invest in these higher-level services, it’s not necessarily about the money, per se—it’s more about lack of education and knowing that this is the best thing for their child?

A: Dr. Moheeputh: Absolutely. I think the biggest misconception that I heard when I said I wanted to do this in Walmart was that nobody’s going to pay for ortho-k there. [Some] colleagues [were concerned] that I was going to devalue the service of ortho-k, because they assumed I was going to charge very, very low cost. Today, I do keep both locations because it does allow me to make those treatments more accessible to parents [of limited means].

[The typical Walmart customer is of the working class.] Anyone who works hard feels like they deserve the best. I think that sometimes we forget that. It’s important that we don’t judge [what a parent will or will not do for their child]. That’s a disservice to them. [Some parents] feel offended [if these services aren’t offered]. Parents have said, “Nobody offered me this before.” They’re more than happy and willing to do this for their kids. CLS

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