A recent opinion piece in JAMA "The Impact of Definitions of Disease on Overdiagnosis" describes our culture in which expanded diagnoses and commercially driven health models have led to too much medicine - for which more tests, more diagnostic labels, and more prescriptions does not equate to better care.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in modern eye care.
Dry eye disease, ocular surface disease, and now myopia is a disease - the term disease was always reserved for true clinical concern but now has become a marketing platform to be drilled into our psyche. Over-medicalization has replaced understanding and shifted priorities. The art of diagnostics, the how & why is being reduced to data points, algorithms, not to mention relying on associations or worse yet - mnemonics.
But this isn’t just about over-diagnosis, it’s about sacrificing true care by not knowing what matters and what doesn't matter.
While resources are poured into diagnosing and managing mild conditions for profit (especially cash), true systemic ophthalmic disorders which encompass every medical specialty often go unrecognized, or dismissed as "outside my comfort zone", which sacrifices proper coordination of care in terms of treating the source. Preventable vision loss, stroke, even possible death is often not addressed due to a massive void in ophthalmic care as it relates to general medicine.
However, the solution isn’t less medicine.
It’s smarter medicine - and the creation of a new model...
A residency path to the Doctor of Ophthalmic Medicine (OMD) - a clinician trained to manage the eye and visual system - but also understands how to contribute to whole-person medicine.
With appreciation,
"John"
John R. Martinelli, MD, OD, FAAO
Founder, The Ophthalmic Physician
Pioneering Ophthalmic Medicine & The OD -> OMD Residency
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