Myopia Management
What is Myopia?
Myopia is another word for nearsightedness. It means that when light enters the eye, it focuses in front of the retina causing distance vision to be blurred.
How is myopia treated?
The typical treatment for myopia is to correct the vision to be clear with glasses or contacts. If the myopia worsens, a larger glasses prescription is needed.
What does myopia management mean?
Myopia management is a term for treatments that aim to actually slow the progression of myopia rather than simply correcting the blur associated. The benefit of this is profound because being highly nearsighted can bring higher risks of retinal disease and retinal detachment. Someone with progressive myopia will also become increasingly visually impaired when they are not wearing glasses or contacts.
When is myopia management recommended?
Myopia management is usually recommended for children who either have a high risk of myopia progression due to genetic history or who are showing signs of myopic progression themselves. In cases where myopia has already progressed, it is still advantageous to slow down further progression.
What is the actual treatment like?
There are a few different studied ways to slow myopic progression. Hard contact lenses (orthokeratology), eye drops (low dose atropine), and specialized contact lenses (MiSight) are the three most common treatment methods. At our office, we offer MiSight contact lenses and low dose atropine. In the future we hope to also offer glasses for myopia management (MiYOSMART by HOYA), but they are not yet available in the US.
Are contact lenses safe for children?
When used correctly, contact lenses are very safe. Most young children can learn to insert and remove contact lenses quite easily. MiSight 1-day contact lenses are single use and therefore carry an especially low risk of contact lens complications.
Learn more about MiSight contact lenses here.