Myopia Management

What is Myopia?

Myopia, commonly known as nearsightedness, is a condition where distance vision appears blurry while near objects remain clear. Myopia occurs when the eye grows too long, causing light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it. While glasses and contact lenses can correct blurry vision, they do not address the underlying progression of myopia.
Myopia has become increasingly common among children worldwide. Myopia occurs in more than 50% of the population and is expected to increase. Complications associated with myopia progression are the sixth leading cause of blindness from retinal detachment, glaucoma, myopic macular degeneration, and early onset cataracts. For this reason, managing myopia progression during childhood has become a critical part of preserving long-term eye health.

What is Myopia Management?

Myopia management refers to specialized treatment strategies designed to slow the progression of nearsightedness in growing children. Rather than simply updating a child’s prescription each year, myopia management focuses on reducing the rate at which the eye continues to elongate, and the prescription continues to increase.

At our practice, we take a proactive approach to myopia control by utilizing advanced technology, evidence-based treatments, and ongoing monitoring to help protect your child’s vision for the future.

A key component of successful myopia management is measuring axial length, which is the length of the eye from front to back. Our office utilizes axial length measurements to accurately monitor eye growth over time and evaluate how effective the treatment is to track your child’s progress with greater precision rather than prescription changes alone.

Myopia Management Treatment Options

Every child is unique, and the best treatment option depends on age, prescription, lifestyle, and rate of progression. We offer several proven treatment options, including:

Atropine

A prescription eye drop used nightly to help slow the progression of myopia. The clinical evidence suggests its ability to control myopia is related to concentration. The stronger the eye drops the more effective. The downside is that symptoms of near vision blur and sensitivity light increase with concentration. Therefore, we use the measurements of axial length which are sensitive to growth over 3 months to determine the proper concentration.

Orthokeratology (Ortho-k)

A rigid contact lens is worn while sleeping to gently reshape the front surface of the eye to allow clear vision during the day without glasses or contact lenses. In addition to correcting the vision in the daytime, it has also been shown to effectively slow down myopia progression by around 50%

Multifocal Soft Contact Lenses

Multifocal soft contact lenses are worn during the day and designed to provide clear vision while creating a peripheral defocus to the retina to slow down myopia progression. We use the most effective lenses to slow the progression of your child’s myopia. We are proud to have been a center for a clinical trial to test one of these contact modalities.

Stellest Lenses

Stellest lenses are spectacle lenses to provide clear vision while incorporating optical elements int he periphery of the lens to help slow down myopia progression. Stellest lenses have been shown to slow the progression by almost 70%.

After a thorough examination, we will determine the best treatment option for you. Successful therapy occurs when progression slows by 50%. For further information, please view our publications.