Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to rapidly transform myopia management, offering new capabilities for predicting progression, personalising treatment and improving clinical decision-making, according to the Centre for Ocular Research & Education (CORE).
Dedicating its latest issue of Contact Lens Update to the topic, CORE said it is focusing on the challenges, opportunities and paths forward.
AI is not a substitute for clinicians, but it can augment their clinical reasoning, said Dr Daddi Fadel, adjunct assistant professor at the University of Waterloo and a consultant for CORE. “For myopia management, systems can already help synthesise complex scientific evidence, project progression and support personalised treatment decisions. This issue provides practitioners with a practical understanding of how AI can be integrated into daily care to improve outcomes for young myopic patients.”
Dr Jeffrey Walline, a professor and associate dean at The Ohio State University College of Optometry, writes that while AI predicts average myopia progression in groups reasonably well, it remains poor at forecasting individual progression. In the opening editorial, he concludes that “truly transformative AI for personalised myopia care does not yet exist, though it will likely emerge within our professional lifetime”.
Feature article author Dr Nicola Logan, professor of optometry and associate dean for Research & Enterprise at Aston University, UK, analyses AI in myopia research, finding that use is growing rapidly yet remains focused on screening and prediction rather than treatment decisions. “Meaningful clinical transformation will require more international data sharing, multi-ethnic studies and integrated decision-support systems,” she concludes.
