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Myopia Management

What is Myopia?

Also known as short-sightedness, myopia causes distant objects to become out of focus and increases the risk of several eye conditions throughout life.
Myopia is more than just blurry vision; it is a disease that can interfere with a child's quality of life, including education, career options, social interactions and sports, but perhaps more importantly, myopia can lead to severe ocular health problems later in life: Retinal detachments, cataracts and myopic maculopathy. 

Myopia is caused when the eye grows incorrectly and ends up larger than it should, meaning light is not focused on the retina. Instead, a blurry image is seen. An estimated 5 billion people, or half of the global population, could be affected by shortsightedness by 2050. The severity of myopia is also increasing. 

Myopia is a growing problem and global concern. 

What is myopia control or management?

Myopia control is designed to correct the vision whilst also slowing the progression of myopia by using specialist spectacle or contact lenses.

It is not possible to cure or reverse myopia, but we can take action to slow down the worsening of myopia (and, in some cases, stop any progression). This is known as Myopia management or myopia control. Such intervention can slow myopia progression, therefore:

 

What are Myopia management options available at Buchanan optometrists?

MiYOSMART Myopia control spectacle lenses

 

MiSight Myopia control contact lenses

When to start myopia control?

As soon as possible.

Children who become myopic at a young age are likely to become more highly myopic than a child who develops myopia later. Therefore intervention at a young age is essential. Also, the sooner the treatment is started, the better the outcome. We can calculate your child's likely outcome with and without myopia management to demonstrate how the treatment should slow their myopia progression. 

Should I watch and wait?

Acting as soon as myopia is diagnosed is imperative as treatment cannot reverse myopia, only slow it (or in some cases stop it) progressing; therefore, the earlier treatment begins, the better the outcome. At your child's myopia management appointment, we can calculate how we expect your child's prescription to progress without treatment, giving you an insight into the likely pattern of decline if we do not intervene. However, it is never too late to start; Myopia treatment can slow progression at any age (usually up to 21 years old when it slows naturally anyway).

What is myopia management?

Myopia management is a safe, effective and non-invasive way of slowing myopia progression so children and young adults end up less short-sighted than they would have without intervention. There are a few approaches, including wearing specialist spectacle or contact lenses which blur the peripheral view slightly to encourage the eye to grow correctly rather than in a myopic direction. 

Why do myopia management?

It is not just a case of ensuring that children end up with less short-sightedness and, therefore, better vision and thinner spectacles, but the health aspects are compelling. Myopia can lead to many eye conditions later in life, including myopic degeneration, glaucoma, retinal detachments, and many more conditions. 

How does myopia control work?

Our two methods of myopia management are non-invasive, clinically proven and safe for your child.

Myopia usually occurs when the cornea's curvature is too flat, or the eyeball grows too quickly, rendering the eye too long and, therefore, short-sighted. Both methods are designed to encourage the eye to grow more slowly.

The spectacle lenses, MiYOSMART from Hoya, use lenses with D.I.M.S. (Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments) to focus the eye perfectly centrally, providing crisp, clear vision. Light entering from the side of the spectacle lens is deliberately focused in front of the retina (peripheral defocus), which signals the eye to slow or stop growing the eye growing further, slowing down myopia progression on average by 60% and halting myopia progression by 21.5%.1

MiSight, a 1-day lens, uses ActivControl™ technology and utilises dual zones for myopia management and correction of myopia. Two zones provide refractive correction of myopia to ensure your child has clear vision. Two treatment zones provide myopic peripheral defocus, which is thought to control the axial elongation of the eye and, thus, the refractive error (degree of myopia).3

 

How effective is myopia control?

MiYOSMART lenses from Hoya have been clinically proven to slow myopia progression on average by 60% and halt myopia progression by 21.5%, compared to children wearing traditional spectacle lenses.1 ie. A child who is expected to reach -10.00 without myopia control, will, on average only progress to -4.00, therefore significantly decreasing the odds of having sight-threatening conditions such as retinal detachments and glaucoma.

MiSight 1-day contact lenses are clinically proven to slow down short-sightedness progression in children by 59% on average compared to traditional single-vision contact lenses. 3

 

What else can I do to help my child's myopia?

Although in many cases, myopia can be genetic, there are some lifestyle factors linked with myopia. 

Spend time outdoors. Research showed that spending time outdoors may reduce the risk of myopia and its progression.
Seek regular eye care. Make sure that your child has regular eye examinations to ensure that myopia or other vision problems are detected and treated early, reducing the worsening of vision, myopia progression and potential complications of high myopia.
Take regular breaks. Reduce your child’s eye strain by reminding him or her to take breaks from intensive screen time or near work. Ideally, no more than 30 minutes at a time with the screen at least 30cm from their eyes. 

How do I know if my child is myopic?

The only way to tell for sure is to have an accurate measurement by an optometrist, but some telltale signs you may pick up on  include:


Nothing is more important than the health and well-being of your child. Now and into the future, you want to see your child thrive. So let's work together to slow your child's myopia today. 

Book into our Myopia Management clinic, and our experienced optometrists will accurately measure your child's vision and assess and discuss which options will work best for your child. 

Call 01634 757227 to book into the Myopia Management clinic now. 
 

References
1.Lam CSY, Tang WC, Tse DY, Lee RPK, Chun RKM, Hasegawa K, Qi H, Hatanaka T, To CH. Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments (DIMS) spectacle lenses slow myopia progression: a 2-year randomised clinical trial. British Journal of Ophthalmology. Published Online First: 29 May 2019. doi: 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2018-313739
 3. Chamberlain P, et al. Optom Vis Sci. 2019;96:556–567