If your child's eyeglass prescription seems to get stronger every year, you may have heard the same explanation many parents hear:
“They're becoming more nearsighted.”
In the past, the usual response was simply to prescribe stronger glasses each year.
Today, we can often do more.
Myopia management, also known as myopia control, uses specialized treatments intended to slow the progression of nearsightedness in children. For the right child, our goal is no longer simply to help them see clearly today. We also want to consider how their eyes are developing for the future.
What Is Myopia?
Myopia is the medical term for nearsightedness. A child with myopia usually sees nearby objects clearly but has difficulty seeing things farther away, such as the board at school, street signs or a television across the room. Myopia commonly begins during childhood and may continue to progress as a child grows.
Parents often first notice that their child:
- Sits very close to the television
- Squints when looking far away
- Has trouble seeing the board at school
- Complains that distant objects look blurry
- Needs a stronger prescription at successive eye examinations
Why Does Myopia Progression Matter?
It is easy to think of myopia as simply an inconvenience that can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses. But the amount of myopia a person develops can also have implications for their long-term eye health. Higher levels of myopia are associated with a greater lifetime risk of certain eye conditions.
That is one reason eye doctors are increasingly interested in slowing the progression of childhood myopia, rather than simply prescribing progressively stronger glasses.
What Is Myopia Control?
Myopia-control treatments are designed to reduce how quickly a child's nearsightedness progresses. Depending upon the child, their age, their prescription and other factors, treatment options may include:
- Specialized soft contact lenses
- Orthokeratology, also known as Ortho-K
- Specialized spectacle lenses
- Low-dose atropine when appropriate
- Recommendations involving outdoor time and visual habits
There is no single myopia-control treatment that is right for every child. A proper evaluation allows us to determine which options may be appropriate.
Myopia-Control Contact Lenses
Some specialized contact lenses are designed differently from ordinary single-vision contacts. They allow a child to see clearly while also creating an optical effect intended to help slow the progression of myopia. For appropriate children, myopia-control contact lenses can provide the convenience of contact lenses while also becoming part of a long-term myopia-management strategy. Parents are sometimes surprised to learn that children can successfully wear contact lenses.
Age isn't the only consideration. Maturity, responsibility, hygiene and the child's willingness to wear lenses are also important.
What About Ortho-K?
Orthokeratology, or Ortho-K, uses specially designed rigid contact lenses that are generally worn while sleeping. These lenses temporarily reshape the front surface of the eye so that the child can often see clearly during the day without wearing glasses or contact lenses. Ortho-K may also be used as a strategy for slowing myopia progression in certain children. As with other myopia treatments, it requires careful fitting and ongoing monitoring by an eye doctor.
Can Lifestyle Make a Difference?
Genetics play an important role in myopia, but environment and visual habits may matter as well. Children today spend significant amounts of time looking at phones, tablets, computers, books, and other near objects. We don't want children to stop reading or learning.
Instead, healthy visual habits can include taking regular breaks from prolonged near work and spending adequate time outdoors. A comprehensive myopia-management plan considers the entire child—not simply the number written on the eyeglass prescription.
When Should Parents Ask About Myopia Control?
You do not necessarily need to wait until your child's prescription becomes very strong. It may be worth discussing myopia management if:
- Your child has recently become nearsighted
- Their prescription is increasing each year
- One or both parents are significantly nearsighted
- Myopia began at an early age
- You are concerned about how quickly their vision is changing
Generally, the earlier myopia begins, the more years a child potentially has for it to progress. That makes early identification and monitoring particularly important.
Myopia Management Requires Follow-Up
Myopia control isn't simply a product that we prescribe once. It is an ongoing process. We monitor the child's vision and prescription over time and may also evaluate changes in the eye itself. Treatment can then be adjusted based on how the child responds.
Our objective is to achieve the best balance of:
clear vision, healthy eyes, and reduced myopia progression.
Schedule a Myopia Control Evaluation in Wyckoff, NJ
If your child's prescription seems to become stronger every year, you don't necessarily have to simply watch it happen. If you're looking for myopia control or myopia management in Wyckoff, NJ, or Bergen County, schedule an evaluation with our eye care team. We can evaluate your child's vision, discuss their risk factors, and explain whether myopia-management treatment may be appropriate. Because when it comes to childhood myopia, we want to think beyond the next pair of glasses.
We want to think about your child's lifetime of vision.
Schedule a Myopia Evaluation | Request an Appointment