In this episode of The 20/20 Podcast, Dr. Harbir Sian sits down with Donna Mikulecky, Executive Director of Optometry Giving Sight, to discuss how the organization is helping build sustainable optometry services around the world. Donna explains that Optometry Giving Sight focuses on preventing vision impairment and blindness caused by uncorrected refractive error, with a mission that goes beyond short-term vision missions. Instead, the organization helps fund long-term infrastructure, including optometry schools, vision centres, and community-based programs that continue serving patients long after initial support is provided.

The conversation explores the real-world impact of access to eye care: children staying in school, adults being able to work, families becoming more independent, and local communities gaining employment opportunities through sustainable eye care systems. Donna also shares how optometrists, clinics, corporate partners, and patients can support Optometry Giving Sight through programs like the World Sight Day Challenge, Team OGS, patient rebate donations, and practice-based fundraising campaigns. The episode also addresses common questions around charitable giving, including where donations go, how grants are awarded, and how Optometry Giving Sight monitors the programs it funds.

3 Key Takeaways

1. Optometry Giving Sight focuses on sustainable eye care, not just temporary aid.

The organization supports long-term solutions such as optometry schools, vision centres, and local eye care programs that remain in communities and continue serving patients over time.

2. The impact of vision care extends far beyond glasses.

Access to eye care can help children succeed in school, allow adults to work, support family independence, and create career opportunities for local eye care providers.

3. Every optometry practice can participate in giving back.

Whether through the World Sight Day Challenge, Team OGS, donating a portion of frame sales, encouraging patient rebate donations, or sharing OGS content online, practices can make giving part of their culture in a simple and meaningful way.

Learn more and contribute to Optometry Giving Sight at givingsight.org

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In this episode of The 20/20 Podcast, Dr. Harbir Sian speaks with Dr. Peter Rozanec, a Waterloo-trained optometrist, longtime Mississauga practitioner, and founder of the Canadian Optometry Group, Canada’s largest online community for optometrists.

Dr. Rozanec reflects on his 36-year career, from buying his first practice before graduation to becoming an early adopter of technology in optometry. He shares stories about the early days of the internet, building websites, purchasing LASIK-related domain names, launching an optometry podcast in 2009, and later creating COG as a national forum for Canadian ODs.

The conversation also explores the role of AI in optometry. Dr. Rozanec takes a balanced view, describing AI as a useful tool and “intelligence amplifier,” but not a replacement for optometrists. He emphasizes that clinicians still need strong foundational knowledge, critical thinking, and good judgment when using new technology.

The episode closes with advice for students and new grads: be confident, stay curious, keep reading, and remain grounded in science. Dr. Rozanec reminds listeners that optometry has always faced disruption, but the profession continues to adapt because people will always need people.

3 Key Takeaways

1. AI will likely support optometrists, not replace them.

Dr. Rozanec believes AI will become a useful supplement in optometry, especially for tasks like documentation, transcription, and information processing. However, he cautions that AI still requires human judgment, clinical knowledge, and context.

2. Technology is most powerful when it improves human connection.

From early internet tools to future AI scribes, Dr. Rozanec’s view is that technology should free optometrists to spend more time with patients — not create more administrative burden. The ideal technology works quietly in the background.

3. Community matters, especially during times of uncertainty.

The Canadian Optometry Group has become a trusted space for Canadian ODs to exchange ideas, ask questions, and support each other. Dr. Rozanec highlights how professional communities become especially valuable during periods of disruption, such as COVID, political challenges, and industry change.

Join the Canadian Optometry Group:

canadianoptometrygroup.com

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In this episode of The 20/20 Podcast, host Dr. Harbir Sian sits down live at the BCDO Conference with the one and only Dr. Richard Maharaj, widely known in Canadian optometry as the “Dry Eye Jedi.”

Dr. Maharaj is the Managing Partner of Optometry Services at Prism Eye Institute and one of the most respected voices in dry eye disease, ocular surface disease, chronic eye pain, and optometric research. But this conversation goes far beyond tear breakup time, MMP-9, meibography, and treatment algorithms.

Instead, Harbir and Richard explore the human side of clinical care: how we speak to patients, how we handle chronic pain, why patients often carry anxiety into the exam chair, and why clinicians need to pause before delivering information that may unintentionally create fear.

The episode dives deep into the biopsychosocial model of pain, the difference between pain and visible clinical signs, how to approach patients with symptoms that do not match what we see on the ocular surface, and why mental health support can be an important part of the care pathway.

Dr. Maharaj also shares emerging insights into the role of vitamin B, vitamin D, nutrition, corneal nerve health, oxidative stress, and ocular surface disease, including how B vitamins may support patients with chronic ocular pain and neurosensory symptoms.

This is a reflective, clinically rich, and deeply human conversation about dry eye, pain, gratitude, patient communication, and the responsibility optometrists have as trusted healthcare providers.

3 Key Takeaways

1. Chronic eye pain must be understood beyond the ocular surface

Dr. Maharaj explains that pain is not simply a direct reflection of visible tissue damage. In many patients, especially those with chronic ocular pain, the experience of pain is shaped by the brain, psychology, anatomy, and social context. Optometrists need to recognize that “normal-looking eyes” do not mean the patient’s symptoms are not real.

2. Patient communication can either calm or catastrophize

Patients often come into the exam room after consuming online information about dry eye, gland loss, or chronic disease. Dr. Maharaj encourages clinicians to avoid fear-based messaging and instead focus on measurable improvement, realistic timelines, reassurance, and clarity. Most patients improve, but they need to understand that progress is not always linear.

3. Nutrition may play a growing role in ocular surface disease

Dr. Maharaj discusses emerging research around vitamin B, particularly B12, in corneal nerve health, oxidative stress, and chronic pain. While topical treatments and procedures remain important, nutrition and supplementation may become an increasingly relevant part of dry eye and ocular surface management.

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