Product: “Taking a Proactive Approach to Access Eye Care and Maintain Vision for People with Diabetic Macular Edema” webinar.
Top Line: Prevent Blindness, the nation’s leading nonprofit eye health and safety organization, and MedLive, an online education platform dedicated to providing reliable health information that supports shared decision-making with care teams and improved health outcomes, are teaming up to offer the new webinar “Taking a Proactive Approach to Access Eye Care and Maintain Vision for People with Diabetic Macular Edema.” The free webinar can be seen here.
Close Up: Diabetic macular edema (DME) can occur in people living with diabetes. Consistently high blood sugar due to poor glucose control over time can damage small blood vessels in the body, including the eye. Even when diagnosed, patients may find it difficult to adhere to aggressive treatment regimens. This heavy burden can affect both patients and their caregivers, impeding their ability to work, function, and interact socially. These problems intensify for people from under-resourced populations, who face a greater risk of diabetes, a bigger burden from DME, and more barriers to proper healthcare. Collectively, these issues may result in frustrated patients and caregivers, poor visual outcomes, and impaired quality of life due to reduced independence. A panel of ophthalmologists, optometrists, patient advocates, and patients will discuss the importance of yearly screenings to ensure early detection and management of Diabetic Macular Edema. They’ll also review current and emerging treatment strategies to preserve vision and devices and tools to reduce disease and treatment burden for patients. A panel of leading ophthalmologists, optometrists, patient advocates, and patients will discuss the importance of yearly screenings to ensure early detection and management of DME. Presenters include:
• Rishi Singh, MD, staff physician, Cleveland Clinic Florida, president, Cleveland Clinic Martin Health
• Mark Dunbar, OD, FAAO, director of optometric services, optometry residency supervisor, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Health System
• Nita Sinha, director of public health, Prevent Blindness
• Serena Valentine, diabetes peer educator/person living with Type 2 diabetes and vision loss Expert panelists will also review current and emerging treatment strategies to preserve vision and devices and tools to reduce disease and treatment burden for patients. Strategies will be shared to help patients communicate their treatment expectations, engage in shared decision-making with doctors and other care professionals, and ensure access to wholistic care that includes control of risk factors.
Vital Stats: For more information or to register for the webinar, visit https://preventblindness.org/events/patient-webinar-diabetic-macular-edema/. For more information on and other diabetes-related eye disease, visit https://preventblindness.org/diabetes.