Managing Myopia

What is Myopia?

Myopia is a common eye condition. Its most frequent symptom is nearsightedness, or the inability to see objects clearly at a distance. The reason objects are blurry in the distance with nearsightedness is because the eye becomes longer as the child grows. Myopia typically gets worse over time as your child develops and will stay with your child for life; which can lead to significant risks to eye health later in life, including loss of sight. No level of myopia is safe! This is why annual comprehensive eye examinations are essential for early detection, treatment, and ongoing monitoring for all children.

What's causing the myopia epidemic?

Research suggests that the increase in children with myopia is related to lifestyle changes including a reduction in time spent outdoors and an increase in near work, like screen time and reading. Other risk factors for myopia in children include parents with myopia and early onset of the disease.

What are the risks of untreated myopia in children?

Myopia can worsen over time as children and their eyes grow. For some children, this will mean no more than an occasional need for new glasses or other vision correction. But in others, myopia will progress at a rapid pace, requiring increasingly stronger prescription throughout childhood. This is a condition known as high myopia, categorized by a -5.00D prescription or higher.

Myopia is an inconvenience in childhood. But later in life, it can also be associated with serious eye-health problems, including:

What can I do to help my child?

Book your child's exam and speak to one of our Optometrists today. While myopia is an epidemic there are management options available for your child that can slow down the progression of Myopia such as:

Soft Contact Lenses

Myopia control contact lenses are very different from the lenses that correct myopia. Myopia control contact lenses have different focusing power in different zones. They have full focusing power in the center but less power around the periphery. These lower-power areas ensure that all light entering the eye is focused in front of the retina. This is called peripheral myopic defocus. Research shows that focusing light in front of the retina in this way can help stop the eye from growing longer. In fact, myopia control contact lenses can slow myopia progression by up to 59%. One example of myopia control contact lenses available in the U.S. is the MiSight 1-day lenses by CooperVision which are FDA Approved.

MiSight® 1 Day Contact Lenses​​​​​​​

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Orthokeratology Lenses (Ortho-K)

Acuvue® Abiliti™ Overnight Therapeutic Lenses​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​Paragon CRT® Orthokeratology Lenses

Atropine Therapy

Atropine eye drops commonly are used to reduce the pain associated with certain types of eye inflammation. They also relieve focusing fatigue by dilating the pupil and temporarily limiting the eye's ability to automatically change focus (a process called accommodation). The effect atropine has on accommodation may be what accounts for its effectiveness in also reducing the progression of myopia in children.

​​​​​​​Take our survey to assess your child's risk for untreated Myopia by clicking the link below.
Myopia Risk Survey