SCOPA 2022: A look into sleep apnea and the eye

Brad Sutton, OD, FAAO, FORS, clinical professor at Indiana University School of Optometry, and service chief of the Indianapolis Eye Care Center speaks with Optometry Times® editor Kassi Jackson, sharing highlights from his presentation," which he presented during this year's South Carolina Optometric Physicians Association's (SCOPA) annual meeting in Hilton Head.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity:

Brad Sutton, OD, FAAO, FORS:

The goal is to talk about systemic sleep apnea and all of the things that that does to people—to drive cardiovascular disease and all the increased risk, that having sleep apnea—and having it undiagnosed and untreated—has for your cardiovascular health.

[I will also talk] about ocular conditions that sleep apnea has a role in. Sleep apnea is highly linked to things such as nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy, and even glaucoma in some patients, floppy eyelid syndrome, and lots of other things as well. So the goal is to cover pretty extensively sleep apnea, how it's diagnosed, how its treated, how it relates to cardiovascular disease in this country, and then also how it relates to certain eye problems and how we manage those.