EMPOWER - Seeing the Cornea Clearly

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Incorporated applies proven science and new technology to revolutionize treatment for patients across several therapeutic categories, starting with eye care. Their lead product, Xdemy, Lodolanar Ophthalmic Solution, 0.25%, is FDA approved in the United States for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis. Learn more at tarsusrx.com.

Jacob Lang (0:32)

Hi, everyone. I am Jacob Lang. Welcome to your fourth installment of Empower 2026, where we aim to help advance optometric knowledge and elevate our patient care. Today's episode is going to focus on Keratoconus and Keratoconus management. And no big surprise here, but I am joined by some great friends, colleagues, but I really think experts in the field when I think of Keratoconus, Dr. John Gelles and Dr. Melissa Barnett.

But yes, these two are really great close friends, and we've done a lot of good things together. So really looking forward to a great conversation with friends over something we're all passionate about, corneal health. Dr. Barnett, will you introduce yourself just so the audience knows who you are and how you wrote the book on Keratoconus?

Melissa Barnett (1:25)

Thank you, Jake, for the kind introduction. And yes, John and I wrote the Keratoconus Education Initiative, which is available online. It is such a great resource because there are clickable links on all sorts of things like technology, scleral lens manufacturers, different resources like the National Keratoconus Foundation. And that's available online. You can download that free of charge. I've also written a few books, one being Contemporary Scleral Lenses Theory and Application with Lynette Johns and Authors from Around the World. And that is now available in Chinese and soon to be Spanish. And also Specialty Contact Lenses covering all types of Contact Lenses with Dottie Fadal, which came out last year.

The Clinical Guide for Scleral Lens Success is available in five languages as well.

And I am very honored to be the host of the Clearly KC Podcast with the National Cure De Conus Foundation. And this podcast is for patients and practitioners, and it's my gift to my patients out there. But it's really been such a gift for me because people from around the world, both patients and practitioners, have found how valuable this podcast is and how it's really changed and improved their lives. So thank you so much for the opportunity to discuss one of my favorite topics, Cure De Conus.

Jacob Lang (2:55)

And Dr. Gelles, John, from the west side to the east, he's an optometrist of many coasts. Tell us about yourself, John.

John Gelles (3:04)

Well, I made that trip all of 12 years ago, I think, maybe 14 years ago now. But yeah, now living in the east coast and never coming back.

But, we're at the Corning Laser Eye Institute, the CLEI Center for Cure De Conus. So our team really works together on high impact Cure De Conus research and Cure De Conus care. You know, one of our primary things that we've done in the space is, you know, lead the clinical trials for the approval of corneal collagen crosslinking in the United States. Our team developed corneal tissue addition keratoplasty. We've done a lot in development of various different surgical instruments and diagnostic tools and those sorts of things. And we produce a fair amount of research publications every year on the topic. So we do a fair amount of work in this area. It is definitely, you know, near and dear to us. So it's definitely, you know, something that I think what kind of gravitates you to it is, you know, your ability to really help these patients improve their quality of life. And, you know, it's a very powerful thing to, you know, help those individuals. It's, you know, it's really tremendous to see the ability to change somebody's life with something as simple as a contact lens.

Jacob Lang (4:41)

Yeah, I think we all had that experience and kind of flipped a switch for us all. It's that corneal health and corneal disease and seeing the reward. And I know so many of our listeners here, so many of these young optometrists, when I'm interviewing them for residency, something like, what's your, like, most memorable moment as a young doctor? It's always, I put this contact lens on this caretaconic patient and they were amazed. They could read all the way down and all this sort of stuff. And read 2020 again, and patients are crying, and doctors are crying, and everyone's crying. And so it's all, you know, amazing, great stuff and such a disease that we're all so passionate about. Melissa, I think you talk a lot about this too, in your lectures, like when you start the exam, it's really when you walk in the room with a patient, right? We imagine yourself walking in to the room with this patient. You know, as optometrists, we're kind of the, you know, the first line for so many conditions, whether it be glaucoma or corneal diseases or whatever refractive error. And so we are the front line for so many things and so many patients walking into that room to see your patient.