This article was originally published in a sponsored newsletter.

Myopia control is a global trend and its incidence in Latin America is no exception. This region includes 20 countries, a population of 650 million people, and approximately 25,000 eyecare providers, excluding ophthalmologists. For the past three years, Grupo Manejo de la Miopia Latam (Myopia Management Group Latam) has led the way in educating eyecare providers on the control and management of myopia in Latin America. The group was created by six optometrists who were interested in the subject and were willing to educate and help their peers establish a knowledge base of scientific evidence for this “new” discipline.

The first two years were challenging due to a general lack of information, but the group created webinars, courses, and continuing education. Now in the third year, many optometry schools in the region offer courses on the subject, and Latin America is ready for the next phase of implementation into practices. However, few eyecare providers practice myopia control and management because they face many challenges, such as the lack of uniformity of optometry in the region, the scarcity of products for interventions, and high costs.

In terms of interventions, we have several orthokeratology lens designs in the region, although few ECPs do orthokeratology, specialty soft contact lenses, or specialty ophthalmic lenses. Patients also have almost no access to atropine because it is almost exclusively limited to ophthalmologists. Further, only a few local labs offer it and are limited in the concentrations they offer.

It is also necessary to generate local data to be able to determine whether the data from Asia, Europe, and the U.S. differ from our region because it is essential that we know whether the different interventions from these areas will have the same efficacy in our patients.

Nevertheless, there will be progress for myopia management in Latin America soon. First, education will continue: Grupo Manejo de la Miopia Latam and other regional entities are planning many offerings in 2023. Second, local companies in Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia are beginning to offer research-based specialty ophthalmic lenses. Third, we hope that the large companies in our industry will continue to see Latin America as the great region that it is and introduce more products.

The level of practice in Latin America is far away from the standard promoted by the World Council of Optometry, but we are working toward that goal.