During your child’s eye examination, your optometrist may have discussed myopia control with you. Myopia is more commonly known as nearsightedness, which is when we require vision correction to see more clearly in the distance. If a child is myopic when they are young, they are likely to become more myopic as they grow into adults. Lots of time spent playing outside can delay or prevent the onset of myopia in young children, but once they become nearsighted, other methods are necessary to slow the progression. Myopia control is performed throughout childhood and adolescence to slow the rate of this increase so that children are less myopic overall when they are fully grown. This is important to do because if someone becomes highly nearsighted, the back of their eye becomes stretched, leading to an increased risk of vision threatening complications later in life. The primary options for myopia control are explained below, and your eye doctor may elect to do only one or several in combination.
Atropine Eye Drops & Myopia Control
Atropine is a pharmaceutical compound. When used for myopia control, this method involves putting a drop of low concentration atropine in each eye every night before bed. Some slight side effects may come along with this, such as increased pupil size, blurry vision up close, and light sensitivity. Because of the low concentrations used, these side effects are usually quite minimal. Children must also continue wearing their normal glasses or contact lenses while using this approach.
Orthokeratology (Ortho-K) Rigid Contact Lenses
Ortho-k involves putting rigid contact lenses in the eyes before bed, wearing them overnight, and taking them out in the morning. One benefit of this modality is that the lenses correct the nearsightedness along with reducing its progression. This means that there may no longer be a need to wear glasses or contact lenses for the rest of the day, depending on the magnitude of the prescription. However, this option also means that you and/or your child must be on board with proper contact lens hygiene and handling.
Multifocal Soft Contact Lenses for Nearsightedness
These are simply soft contact lenses worn throughout the day, just like any normal contact lenses used to for vision correction. These are different in that the power gradually changes towards the outside of the lens, and this is what contributes to the myopia control by reducing the growth of the eyes. This may cause hazy peripheral vision in low light conditions. This is another good option if your child is comfortable wearing contact lenses and you or your child are able to put them in and take them out properly.
Myopia Control and Multifocal Glasses/Lenses
Though not as well studied as the previous three methods, bifocal or progressive addition spectacle lenses are another way of controlling myopic progression. These work the same way as the multifocal soft contact lenses but are worn as glasses for both nearsightedness correction and myopia control. Using these depends on your child having good eye alignment and binocular vision. Your optometrist may recommend these alone or in combination with some of the other above methods, such as atropine eye drops.