April 6, 2026
By Alyssa Pack, OD
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Someone waves to you in the grocery store. They look familiar, but you can’t quite place them. You search your memory until it clicks. She’s your patient. You may not remember her name, but you remember her story—dropping off her daughter at college, the moment you connected as parents.
This is not accidental. We are wired to remember stories. Long after clinical details fade, the narrative stays. In myopia management, that has real implications for how we educate patients and earn their trust.
A Framework for Storytelling in Clinical Practice
At a recent Vision Source workshop, Dr. Kyle Klute introduced a framework drawn from Donald Miller’s StoryBrand methodology. The structure: a hero, a problem, a guide, a plan and a decision that determines the outcome. The critical reframe is this: you, the clinician, are not the hero. The patient is. In pediatric myopia management, the parent becomes the hero—for our purposes, Courageous Carrie.
Understanding What Carrie Is Really Dealing With
Her 7-year-old is already –1.50D and is progressing annually. That’s the external problem. But Carrie also remembers her own progression to high myopia, and she’s afraid her daughter is heading in the same direction. That internal fear, not the refractive error, is usually what drives decision-making.
Most clinicians address the external problem and stop there. The ones who connect address both.
Your Role: Guide, Not Hero
Carrie isn’t looking for someone to take over. She wants a trusted expert who understands her concerns and can show her the way forward. That means leading with empathy (“I understand how worrying this can feel, especially knowing your own history”) before moving to authority (“We’ve helped many kids slow progression and protect their long-term eye health”).
Sharing patient success stories, or your own experiences, helps bridge the gap between clinical evidence and real-life outcomes. If you’re early in your myopia management journey, start with staff or family. Those first cases become the foundation of your story library.
The Plan, the Risk and the Ask
Once trust is established, clarity becomes the priority. A straightforward plan that includes a dedicated consultation, a personalized treatment strategy (orthokeratology, soft multifocals, low-dose atropine, or myopia control spectacles), and ongoing monitoring reduces uncertainty and increases the likelihood of follow-through.
Framing risk as two possible futures tends to land well. Without intervention: continued axial elongation, increased lifetime risk of myopic maculopathy, retinal detachment, glaucoma, and cataract, and potential limitations for future refractive surgery. With intervention: slower progression, reduced disease risk, and better quality of life over time. This isn’t fear-based messaging. It’s giving families an accurate picture so they can make a genuinely informed choice.
Then comes the ask. Even the most compelling conversation stalls without a clear call to action: “Let’s get a myopia management consultation on the schedule” or “We can start building a plan for your daughter today.”
What This Sounds Like in the Exam Room
Put it all together and the conversation might go something like this:
“So Lily’s prescription has changed again this year, and I want to make sure we talk about what that means. Based on her age, how quickly she’s been progressing and her axial length measurements, she’s on a trajectory I’d like us to get ahead of.
You mentioned you have high myopia yourself, so some of this may sound familiar. The concern isn’t just needing stronger glasses every year. As the eye continues to grow, the risk of conditions like retinal problems and macular changes goes up meaningfully. That’s not meant to frighten you — it’s the reality of what the research shows, and it’s why I’m bringing it up now rather than waiting.
The good news is we have real options. We’ve had great results slowing progression in kids Lily’s age with orthokeratology or soft multifocal lenses, sometimes alongside low-dose atropine. These aren’t cures, but they can make a meaningful difference in where she ends up long-term.
What I’d like to do is schedule a dedicated myopia management appointment to go through everything in detail, get a full baseline and put together a plan that makes sense for Lily specifically. Does that work for you?”
That script hits every element of the framework: the external problem, the internal one, empathy, clinical authority, a clear plan and a direct ask. You don’t need to follow it word for word. The goal is to internalize the structure so it shows up naturally. Every family needs a slightly different approach, but the shape of the story stays the same: here’s where we are, here’s where this could go, here’s what we can do and here’s how we start.
Why This Matters
When parents see themselves as active participants in their child’s visual future, myopia management stops being an abstract recommendation and becomes a decision they understand and want to act on.
Storytelling doesn’t replace clinical expertise. It’s what carries that expertise across the gap between what we know and what patients actually hear, remember and do. And in the end, that’s what drives outcomes.
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Dr. Alyssa Pack completed her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Southern California College of Optometry in 2020. In 2022, she and her husband, Justin Nguyen, opened their private practice, EyeCare at the Cove Optometry, in La Jolla, California. Dr. Pack is an active leader in her professional community, serving on the board of the San Diego County Optometric Association and is a current prospect for VSP’s Future Leader Academy. She also serves as an advisor on the board for Oculogx’s OphthalGPT. Recently, Dr. Pack was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Recent Graduate Achievement Award from Marshall B. Ketchum University. Dr. Pack is dedicated to protecting the gift of sight, whether helping patients see clearly with new glasses or contacts, introducing innovative treatments to relieve dry eye, or supporting children’s vision through myopia management. In her free time, she enjoys aerial yoga, hiking, and listening to podcasts, and she loves spending time with her husband and their dog, Mako.
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