Myopia Management
The aim of Myopia Management is to slow down or ideally halt the progression of myopia (short-sightedness).
The sooner you start with Myopia Management, the better the results. Children of any age, but as young as 6 years old, with even the smallest amount of myopia can benefit from this form of vision therapy.
What is Myopia
Myopia, also known as short-sightedness, is a condition of the eye where light entering from a distant object does not focus directly on the retina, but in front of it. This causes distant objects to be out of focus, where near objects may be clearly in focus, and is usually because the eye grows ‘too long’ to focus correctly.
For most short-sighted people the main problem is inconvenience. Being dependent on spectacles or contact lenses can limit activities and be frustrating. However, the more myopic you are (the more unusually elongated your eyes are) the greater the risk of developing serious eye conditions such as retinal detachment, glaucoma and myopic maculopathy.
Incidence of Myopia
Myopia currently affects 2.6 billion people worldwide (22% of the population), projected to increase to affect 4.9 billion by 2050 (50% of the world population).
More than 50% of adolescents in the UK and USA are myopic and this number is increasing every year.
As well as affecting lifestyle for those affected, this increase in myopia is predicted to have a serious impact on health care services as more adults will suffer the eye diseases that are more prevalent in unusually elongated eyes.
What are the causes of Myopia in Children?
Genetics. We know that you are more likely to develop myopia if one or both of your parents is short-sighted*, though the incidence is increasing worldwide at a rate which cannot be explained by genetics alone.
*Compared to a child who does not have myopic parents.
Both parents myopic means a child is 8x more likely to be myopic by age 12.
Habitual focussing: The more time our children spend on near vision tasks (books, computers, smart phones) the more likely their eyes will adapt to the near habitual focussing distance, resulting in myopia
Light quality: Although not fully understood - research has shown that more time spent outdoors as a child helps to prevent the onset and progression of myopia. This could explain why children in Australia show fewer cases of myopia than in UK.
Preventing Myopia
There is strong evidence that time spent outdoors as a child can dramatically reduce the chance of developing myopia – or at least delay the onset, and thereby the long-term severity of the condition.
Whilst not yet proven, many clinicians believe that limiting time spent on near vision tasks such as reading books, smart phones & tablets means less likelihood of becoming myopic, or less likelihood of becoming significantly more myopic.
If your child or young family member is ‘at risk’ of developing myopia, it will certainly help if you can encourage them to spend plenty of time outdoors, and to keep long periods of close focussing to a minimum.
If they have already become short-sighted, then we recommend myopia management therapy.
Myopia Management
There is currently no cure for short-sightedness. Even laser surgery in adulthood doesn’t change the length of the eye, just the front surface shape, so does not reduce the risk of conditions associated with progressive myopia.
The aim of Myopia Management is to slow down or ideally halt the progression of myopia by preventing the eye from elongating. Research has shown conclusively that that light going to the periphery of the retina is the main trigger for the eye to grow or not to grow.
Specialist vision correction (spectacles or contact lenses) is used to change the way that light entering the eye is focussed on the peripheral retina, whilst giving the wearer clear vision.
The use of this technology, whilst not successful in all children, has been shown to effectively stop or significantly reduce the progression of myopia in the majority.
The sooner you start with Myopia Management, the better the results. Children of any age, but as young as 6 years old, with even the smallest amount of myopia can benefit from this form of vision therapy.
The use of traditional glasses or traditional contact lenses to correct myopia will give the clarity of vision your child needs to see well – but they will not slow down myopia progression.
MyoCare TM Specs (by Zeiss)
Specialist spectacles using C.A.R.E (Cylindrical Annular Refractive Elements) technology to induce defocus and corrective zones expanding towards the visual periphery.
A unique point-by-point, free form optimised lens to maintain refractive correction as well as myopic defocus in all directions of gaze. These spectacle lenses need careful dispensing and cautious maintenance to create and maintain the desired myopia progression prevention.
EyedreamTM Contact Lenses
Specialist overnight vision correction contact lenses using ‘Topography Assisted Corneal Reshaping technology’.
Only available from accredited optometrists, these contact lenses are worn overnight and then removed on waking.
Remarkably comfortable to wear, one of the key benefits is that all the care happens at home, so your child has no need to worry about specs or contact lenses through the day. Eyedream lenses for myopia management give good clarity of vision all day and create the required peripheral light defocus by gently reshaping the cornea overnight.
MyoCare TM Specs (by Zeiss)
Specialist soft contact lenses using ‘ActivControl Dual Focus technology’.
Only available from accredited optometrists, these are 1-day disposable contact lenses worn during the day and removed at night, creating the peripheral light defocus with a power gradient across the pupillary optic zone.
Eyeplan
Eyeplan Myopia Management is our structured and cost-effective vision therapy plan for all children and young people with developing and progressive myopia.
With regular follow-up and the use of technology to measure change over time we will keep you up to date with progress, and by comparing any change to ‘normal growth patterns’ we will be able to indicate the effectiveness of a given therapy.
If we find that one version of this therapy is not effective at slowing or stopping the progression of myopia, within Eyeplan we can switch to a different modality without a change to your monthly costs. This gives us the best chance of achieving effective myopia management.
