Myopia, short-sightedness, is where a person’s eyes are focussed close up meaning things further away are out of focus and blurry to see. The more myopic a person is the closer their focal length and the more blurry long distance vision is.
There are two main causes for myopia; genetics and environment. With more and more people spending more and more time on close up devices, from a younger age, there has been a massive increase in the prevalence of myopia, and a reduction in the age of onset, over the last few years. This likely means children growing up to be more myopic and the higher the prescription the greater the chance there is of health issues with the eyes later in life.
As soon as we detect a child becoming myopic we become very proactive at not simply correcting their vision, to help them see, but also intervening with Myopia Control options to work on slowing down the rate of progression.
We’re lucky that now there are lots of different options that are effective at doing this, and we’ll take the time to find the option that suits the child’s lifestyle, age and abilities.
The main options to choose from are:
Night Lenses
Generically referred to as orthokeratology these lenses are custom made hard lenses ordered based on thousands of measurements we take using our corneal topographer. An individual sleeps in these lenses and removes when waking up to provide clear vision during the day without the need for any spectacles or contact lenses. You can find out more about them by clicking here.
Day lenses
These are daily disposable or reusable soft contact lenses designed to correct the prescription when being worn and help slow down the rate of progression. When these lenses are removed the myopia remains so spectacles are still required for when not in these lenses.
An example of these, and more information about how they work, can be found by clicking here.
Spectacle Lenses
There are now multiple options available for spectacle lens corrections too. Like typical glasses they will correct the myopia when being worn providing clear vision. They are also designed to slow down the progression of myopia using small lenslets built in to the plastic. These are a great alternative for children not able to wear contact lenses or who are very keen to wear glasses. You can find out more about them at one of the two below links:
