Myopia Control

Types of Myopia Control

Types of Myopia Control

Why Myopia Matters

“Myopia control” is the term used to describe specific treatments to slow the progression of nearsightedness in children. There are four primary categories of myopia control treatments: atropine eye drops, multifocal contact lenses, multifocal eyeglasses and orthokeratology (ortho-k).

Myopia control measures typically are prescribed by an eye doctor (an optometrist or an ophthalmologist), and it’s important because it may help reduce the risk of vision-threatening complications associated with high myopia later in life — including glaucoma, cataracts, retinal detachment and even blindness.

 

Childhood myopia rates are increasing, most children are now affected.

Multiple studies show myopia becoming much more common in children, showing up at earlier ages and progressing more rapidly. Many researchers believe reduced outdoor time and increased screen time on devices are part of the problem. Myopia often leads to struggles in school and activities for your child due to poor vision, as well as increased eye disease risks.

 

Myopia significantly increases your child’s risk for serious eye diseases in their lifetime

Glasses only compensate for your child’s blurry distance vision, they don’t stop their vision from continuing to deteriorate.

Higher levels of myopia significantly increase your child’s risks for serious eye diseases, like retinal disease and glaucoma. Early intervention is key to slow or even stop the progression of myopia in your child. If you have any concerns about your child’s vision, make an appointment now to see our optometrist.

Atropine eye drops

Atropine eye drops commonly are used to reduce the pain associated with certain types of eye inflammation. They also relieve focusing fatigue by dilating the pupil and temporarily limiting the eye’s ability to automatically change focus, which has been found in several studies to reduce the progression of myopia. Applied once a day, atropine treatment is continued as long as myopia progression continues. It is not a cure, but it has shown to control myopia in many patients and in some cases may be used in conjunction with bifocal eyeglasses to enhance the myopia control effect.

Hoya MyoSmart

Multifocal Lenses

Wearing Multifocal lenses and Myopia control lenses for young children found that it slowed the worsening of nearsightedness by 51 percent. The two main most effective Myopia control lenses on the market now are ZEISS MyoVision and Hoya MyoSmart.

ZEISS MyoVision design applies the principles of Peripheral Defocus Management: the correction of the peripheral “hyperopic shift” affecting myopic eyes sends a signal to the eye to reduce the progression of eye elongation, which can result in the reduction of myopia progression.

HOYA has developed the MyoSmart lens based on a Defocus Incorporated Multiple Segments Technology, or DIMS Technology, which won the Grand Prize. According to HOYA, clinical research shows children wearing the lenses have significantly less myopia progression as compared with those wearing the single-vision lenses. Following the trial, which began in 2014, children wearing defocus lenses had 60 per cent less myopia progression and in 21.5 per cent of the children the myopia progression halted completely.

Soft Contact Lens Multifocal

Concentric defocus incorporated soft contact lenses are the new options for myopia control. They are different from the ordinary soft contact lenses. They have additional set of refractive power to control the nearsightedness progression. The additional power will generate an additional focal plan in front of the retina and naturalizing the tendency for the eyeball elongation.

MiSight (Coopervision) dual-focus soft contact lenses are specifically designed to control myopia progression.  These lenses were developed in 2011 and consist of alternating rings of power to correct both central distance refractive error and provide a peripheral myopic treatment zone.

Orthokeratology

Orthokeratology is a proven effective method for nearsightedness control. It is one of the golden standard for comparison of other myopic control methods. By use of special design rigid gas permeable contact lenses at nighttime, Optometrist may modify the shape of cornea to achieve good quality vision without glasses and contact lenses at daytime. Orthokeratology can alter the peripheral image focus, while keeping the central vision clear. The purposely generated peripheral defocus resulted by orthokeratology can guide the growth of eyeball and control myopia progression.