To the editor: This text rightly calls childhood myopia a looming public well being disaster (“A ‘tidal wave’ of severe eye disease is looming. It starts with childhood nearsightedness,” Nov. 5). I do know as a result of I’m seeing it in my follow daily.
Low-dose atropine drops are, because the article notes, generally prescribed. But no atropine drop is permitted by the Meals and Drug Administration for myopia. American households depend on compounded variations that adjust in energy and high quality and that insurance coverage, together with Medicaid, doesn’t cowl.
On Oct. 30, I attended the FDA advisory committee assembly on a standardized low-dose atropine already permitted in Europe and the U.Ok. The panel debated knowledge factors for hours however barely mentioned how eye docs truly deal with myopia. Greater than 1,000 ophthalmologists and optometrists have signed a petition urging approval. The panel took no vote, and the choice now rests with the FDA.
The scientific neighborhood has made up its thoughts. Each month of delay is one other month American households go with out an permitted choice their docs are able to prescribe. Our youngsters deserve the identical protected and standardized therapy that youngsters globally have already got.
Rahul Bhola, Irvine
This author is the medical director of ophthalmology on the Youngsters’s Hospital of Orange County.
