How to Start a Myopia Management Program: A Practical Guide for Optometrists

What this episode covers

For many optometrists, the biggest obstacle to implementing myopia management isn’t believing in the science—it’s knowing where to begin. Questions about treatment selection, pricing, clinical protocols, follow-up schedules, staff training, and equipment often leave practices feeling overwhelmed before they ever see their first patient. While research supporting myopia control continues to grow, translating that evidence into an efficient, profitable workflow remains a challenge for many eye care professionals. Dr. Kyle Klute, Optometrist, Consultant, and Business Owner In this Defocus Media conversation, Dr. Jennifer Lyerly welcomes Dr. Kyle Klute, owner of Good Life Eye Care and co-founder of Practice Performance Partners, to simplify the process. Rather than presenting myopia management as another specialty service requiring expensive technology or complicated protocols, Dr. Klute reframes it as something every practice already knows how to build—a clinical system. Through practical advice and real-world examples, he outlines how practices can confidently launch, refine, and grow a successful myopia management program while delivering better long-term outcomes for their pediatric patients. Topics Covered: Mindset Is the First Treatment Every Practice NeedsBuild Systems Before Expanding Myopia Control TreatmentsEducating Parents Is More Important Than Closing the ConversationTechnology Should Support the Program, Not Delay ItBuild a Sustainable Myopia Management Program Through Value and Team Alignment Mindset Is the First Treatment Every Practice Needs Before discussing contact lenses, spectacle lenses, atropine, or axial length measurements, Dr. Klute makes an important point: implementation begins with belief. Drawing from Atomic Habits, he explains that beliefs drive actions, and repeated actions reinforce those beliefs. If a doctor isn’t fully convinced that slowing myopia progression is one of the best things they can offer a child, no protocol or marketing s, those conversations become optional rather thantrategy will consistently succeed. Eventually those conversations become optional instead of routine, and patients miss opportunities for intervention. Developing that confidence means spending time with the evidence. Dr. Klute encourages clinicians to review the International Myopia Institute (IMI) reports, long-term MiSight studies, emerging Stellest data,