Carving Her Own Niche

From Gretna to the world, Dr. Cheryl Chapman aims to create myopia awareness and foster education among fellow optometrists

by Chow Ee-Tan

Dr. Cheryl Chapman had two goals when she was young: To work in healthcare and to be a mother with a large family. Today, the proud mother of six is an optometrist specializing in orthokeratology and a fierce advocate for myopia management. She runs her own clinic, Gretna Vision Source, in Omaha, Nebraska.

The youngest of four children, Dr. Chapman grew up on a farm outside of Omaha. She was a keen learner — she likens herself to a sponge. She would have a one-onone tutoring with a teacher and could learn as fast or as slow as needed, depending on the material.

“Growing up on a farm taught me habits and core values of a strong work ethic. My parents worked hard and the whole family was expected to participate in keeping the farm running,” shared Dr. Chapman. “They were dedicated to sending their children to college, an opportunity that they never had the chance to pursue themselves.”

Following her own path

After high school, she attended Creighton University in Omaha and received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology.

“I loved biology and chemistry in school and I wanted to be a medical doctor, I was particularly interested in cardiology. However, the lifestyle and length of schooling for a specialty in cardiology was inconsistent with my other life goals — namely, to be a mom and have a large family,” she shared.

Her brother encouraged her to consider optometry, a path that he was considering for himself but did not end up pursuing.

“But there was a lot of pressure at that time to pursue the more ‘prestigious’ degrees. Fortunately, my young self was able to break free from the self-imposed expectations and standards that I thought I was being held to, and I took the unexpected fork in the path,” she continued. “Looking back, I am thankful that I had the moment of clarity that allowed me to give myself permission to do that.”

At university, she met her husband, Tom, who supported her in her decision to further her education at the University of Houston, College of Optometry. The couple welcomed their first son at the end of her second year and their second son was born at the end of her fourth year of Optometry school. They eventually added four more children and are now proud parents to six children aged 12 to 21 years old.

Going above and beyond optometry

Dr. Chapman started out working many part-time jobs to cobble together a full-time schedule. Her husband went back to school to get a JD/MBA after she graduated, so she became the sole breadwinner for several years.

“This ended up being very beneficial because I had the exposure to a variety of different office environments,” she said. “I was able to utilize a lot of the knowledge gained from the different practices when I purchased my own practice in 2006.”

Her clinic, Gretna Vision Source, has grown over the years with new challenges. The biggest trajectory shifts were when she added two main subspecialties — namely, myopia management and dry eye. In 2019, she teamed up with another optometrist to co-found Peeq Pro.

“We were frustrated by the staggering cost of in-office dry eye therapies and the fact that so many of our patients had MGD (meibomian gland dysfunction),” Dr. Chapman shared. “We wanted to create an at-home eyelid hygiene device that is affordable and ubiquitous and can prevent the onset of MGD. We ended up developing a subscription service to encourage patient compliance with prescribed therapies.”

With the help of a biochemist on staff, they created a very effective and pleasantsmelling foaming eyelid cleanser. “We are now launching our Peeq Waiva device. I tell my patients that the Peeq Waiva is to eyelids like the Sonicare toothbrush is to teeth,” she enthused.

Advocating myopia control and management

To learn more about myopia control, Dr. Chapman attended the Vision By Design Conference hosted by the American Academy of Orthokeratology and Myopia Control (AAOMC).

“The quality of the education was amazing and I knew then this was my calling. I did everything I could to onboard with further education for both myself and my staff, as well as to amp up the technology in my practice in order to deliver the highest level of myopia management possible,” she shared.

Orthokeratology is an arm of myopia management therapies. “It is important because it gives you a tremendous advantage in being able to handle a wide variety of cases where other therapies may not be well-suited for the case parameters or the lifestyle goals of the patients,” she explained.

“I love making a difference for kids — some of my myopia management patients are my very own children,” she quipped.

As myopia management is her passion, Dr. Chapman is mindful of helping to grow that subspecialty. She envisions a future where myopia management, and orthokeratology specifically, is as common, well known, and sought out by patients as orthodontia.

“I would also like to see optometrists being more highly trained and proficient in billing and coding. When you get good at something and it seems ‘simple’, it is all too easy to underestimate the codes that should be billed, leading to under-coding,” she noted. “Not only is this confusing for patients when they have different experiences at different offices, but it also leads to many optometrists struggling to operate private practice profitably.”

“I think this exacerbates feelings of job dissatisfaction and burnout. It affects the practice owner’s ability to purchase and maintain great new technology for their patients. It also affects how well they are able to compensate and retain good staff,” she added.

Fostering education and peer-to-peer interactions

Dr. Chapman currently serves as the president of the AAOMC. “Our mission is to foster education, learning, and peer-to-peer interactions in an unbiased forum — free from commercial bias,” she said, adding that the academy is entering a new era of growth and expanding to offer more frequent local education, doctor support, and student resources.

“I feel very strongly about the importance of the role the AAOMC can play to help optometrists achieve their own practice goals as the landscape of optometry is changing,” she continued.

A new initiative by the AAOMC was the launch of a Facebook group called ‘Myopia Management for Everyone’ to create a community that brings together doctors, industry partners, and patients.

“I envision it as a space that will organically grow public awareness, a safe place where patients can ask questions and receive honest answers not only from experts but also from other patients’ experiences,” Dr. Chapman shared. “I hope this becomes a valuable resource for patients as it grows. We send short video content on a scheduled basis to patients via email and text links to keep them informed and educated,” she added.

She has a staff member who is a certified myopia navigator. The certification was developed by the AAOMC to prove competence by paraoptometrics in this subspecialty.

Dr. Chapman has also taken up a role as a diplomate with the American Board of Optometry, which, she said, has ‘maintenance of certification’ requirements that challenge her to always continue her learning.

According to her, myopia management is the most progressive and rapidly changing topic in eye care.

“One of the new things in the pipeline is the myopia management spectacle lenses. They are still in FDA trials but they are available and widely used in other countries. Another is the low-dose atropine drop that will be available commercially when it completes and passes FDA trials,” she disclosed.

Aiming to live a balanced life

Her work certainly gives her great joy and a sense of purpose.

“It is rewarding as it gives me opportunities to combine a variety of things that are important to me: Being a business owner, an entrepreneur, a wife and mother, as well as having a work-life balance that affords me time to have hobbies and leisure activities,” she shared.

She also greatly enjoys interacting with her patients and feels like she is making a difference in their lives.

“Many of the benefits of what I do today will not be realized until after I am gone and these young children become older adults. In that way, I feel like my work will live on,” she enthused. “Furthermore, if I can help grow the field of myopia management, I feel like my work will have a more exponential impact.”

The biggest challenge for Dr. Chapman is maintaining a work-life balance. “I enjoy what I do so much so that I have to be very intentional about stepping back and making sure that it doesn’t consume me,” she confessed.

Over the years, she has tried building up a practice that allows her to have working hours that are compatible with her family schedule.

“I don’t work evenings or weekends,” she shared. “I hired an associate that can help cover the later afternoon appointment times so that I am able to finish patient care and charting early enough to leave for my kids’ activities.”

“I am mindful of having family dinner almost every night. At the dinner

Contributing Doctor

table, everyone has a chance to talk, and we go through roses and thorns for the day. And this can be achieved if you work with intention towards this type of schedule,” she concluded.

Pro. In addition to working oneon-one with doctors to implement practice protocols, she lectures within the optometric community as well as to local pediatricians and ophthalmologists. Serving as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry, Dr. Chapman also enjoys working closely in training fourth-year extern students in current dry eye therapies, myopia management strategies, and practice management. She is a graduate of the University of Houston College of Optometry.

gretnavisionsource@gmail.com

CooperVision Launches Major US Myopia Control Education Campaign

CooperVision has unveiled a multi-faceted consumer and professional marketing campaign to protect children’s vision and advance myopia control education in the United States to kick off Vision Expo East 2023.

The “Make Children’s Sight Your Fight” initiative is rooted in new CooperVision-commissioned US parent and eye care professional (ECP) research, which shows progress in strengthening awareness and action, while also spotlighting opportunities to do more.

“Protecting children’s vision from getting worse as they grow is something that takes a community — parents, eye care professionals, publishers, and so many others. We want everyone to join us in this fight for early detection and intervention,” said Alex Wilkes, President, Americas, CooperVision.

“MiSight® 1 day launched in the US three years ago and created the fastgrowing myopia control category, and CooperVision is once again leading the way to advance children’s eye health across the nation,” he added.

New CooperVision research shows progress in strengthening awareness and action and emphasizes the critical nature of evidence-based early intervention. Industry data shows 65% of children aged eight to 12 years who have myopia have a prescription between -0.50D and -2.00D. With this information, CooperVision sees an opportunity to impact the lives of children in that age range with early intervention that can prevent the worsening of the disease.

MiSight® 1 day prescribing ECPs are committed to taking action in response to this stark fact, with 76% seeing the need and treating low myopes between -0.50D and -1.00D.

Industry Update

Parent education and easy-to-access resources remain critical to success, with 72% of parents agreeing that if their child has been diagnosed with myopia, they will conduct online research to learn more.

“Make Children’s Sight Your Fight” comprises several avenues to reach the US parent and eye care communities, including media advertising for widespread consumer outreach. The campaign encourages parents to interact with an expanded MiSight® 1-day digital ecosystem, spanning YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and MiSight.com. ECPs can support the campaign by sharing a “Make Children’s Sight Your Fight” social frame with peers and patients on their channels.

For more information, visit https:// coopervision.com/practitioner/ecpviewpoints/myopia-management.