Genetics: Now or Later?

Why it’s time to know the basics.

Inas F. Aboobakar, MD

Glaucoma Today

Genetic factors contribute to the development of all forms of early- and adult-onset glaucoma, and recent studies have identified gene variants for every form of disease.1 In coming years, this genetic information will likely have a role in clinical glaucoma care (and ophthalmology and medicine in general), so it is important to be familiar with the basics. The vision for this field is to one day be able to collect a blood sample from any given patient who presents to clinic and run a gene panel to identify the gene mutations or risk variants they carry. For early-onset forms of glaucoma, such as congenital glaucoma and juvenile open-angle glaucoma, testing could identify the causal gene mutation responsible for disease development. First-degree relatives could then be screened for that gene mutation to determine if they are also carriers and therefore warrant close monitoring. Ultimately, it may also be possible to offer these patients targeted gene therapies. For adult-onset forms of glaucoma, such as primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), angle closure, and exfoliation glaucoma, many genes are associated with small increases in disease risk. These gene variants can be assessed in aggregate by deriving a polygenic risk score (PRS), which can provide information on an individual’s glaucoma risk relative to the general population. This may allow personalized risk assessment, monitoring, and therapy for patients with glaucoma and glaucoma suspects. In addition, understanding the specific genetic drivers for a given patient may enable us to classify them into disease subtypes. EARLY-ONSET GLAUCOMA For early-onset forms of glaucoma (patient age at onset ≤ 40 years), a single gene mutation is sufficient for disease development.

The Good Life

Selina R. McGee, OD, FAAO; Justin Schweitzer, OD, FAAO; and Walter O. Whitley, OD, MBA, FAAO

Modern Optometry

What makes a good life? How does one truly define happiness? If you could choose only one investment to focus on for your future self, what would it be? Would you save more for retirement? Travel more? Learn a new language? Take a cooking class? Learn to fit scleral lenses (finally)? What would you do so that when you look back on your life, you truly feel as though you lived it well? As we move into our adult years and away from optometry school, it’s easy to put our heads down, get into the daily grind, and move through the days while time just ….

Why You Should Hire an Associate OD

Welcoming another eye care practitioner to your practice can accelerate practice growth and expand your range of services offered.

Christopher Lopez, OD

Modern Optometry

Running a successful optometry practice is not just about providing top-notch eye care—it’s also about effectively managing the business aspects of your practice. One crucial decision that can have a significant influence on the financial health of an optometry practice is hiring an associate optometrist. Although this may seem like an added expense, at least initially, hiring the right associate can lead to a substantial increase in practice revenue (see How Much Additional Revenue Can I Expect?). This article explores how bringing on an associate OD can benefit your practice’s top—and bottom—lines. How Much Additional Revenue Can I Expect? In my experience, the range of revenue production from an associate optometrist varies drastically. Some generate $600K annually, while others generate upward of $1.5M annually. Practice setting can hinder overall production, to an extent. For example, some ODs in an OD/MD setting only generate $450K annually, but if a large portion of their workload is managing postoperative care, that may be a reasonable amount. We have other colleagues who work in sublease locations, in which optical sales do not count toward their production, so their revenue generation is based entirely on professional services and nonoptical sales.