Myopia Control

What is Myopia and Myopia Control Treatment?

What is Myopia?
Myopia, aka nearsightedness, or inability to see at a far distance.

What are some of the risk factors that could make my nearsightedness worse?
Age, current prescription, one or both parents being myopic, extensive near activities daily, Asian ethnicity.

My prescription changed again, what could be done to help slow down nearsightedness?
We recommend being proactive at slowing down the progression of myopia and therefore, will reduce the amount of myopia as an adult. Studies have shown that children's progression is reduced when spending a minimum of 2 hours per day outdoors. Every 1 hour additional time spent outdoors will reduce the prevalence of developing myopia by 2%.

What is the prevalence of myopia in children between 6 months to 6 years [24] [25]?
For most studies, myopia is defined as the spherical equivalent of -0.50D

• Non-Hispanic whites: 1.2%

• Hispanic whites: 3.7%

• Asians: 3.98%

• African Americans: 6.6%

​​​​​​​What age of onset, pre-myopia, will increase the risk of patients developing myopia?
Children that develop myopia by the age of 7-9 have a 54-80% chance of progressing past -5D

What are the risk factors for having a higher myopia from an ocular disease standpoint?
The World Health Organization classifies high myopia as -5.00D or greater, and compares the uncorrected vision of the patient as those who are considered legally blind.

What Is the prevalence of myopia in school age American children?
In 2010, 28% of the world population had myopia. By 2050, 50% of the world & 58% in North America.

What is Myopia Control (MC) treatment and how does it benefit me?
Myopia Controls are methods to slow down the progression of myopia in children. Since myopia can’t be reversed, the goal for treatment is to slow down the prescription and the axial length of the eye.

4 main treatments are available:

• Orthokeratology (ortho-K)/Corneal Refractive Therapy (CRT):

  • Slow the progression by 50-80%

  • Using rigid gas permeable lenses, will be worn at night to reshape the cornea. This will help correct the nearsightedness during the day without any type of contact lenses/glasses wear

• Atropine drops

  • Slow the progression by 50-80%

  • Specialty compounded concentration of atropine drops are used nightly, will dilate and paralyze the accommodation, helping the retina defocus during the day

• Soft daily contact lenses

  • Slow the progression by 59% in MiSight

  • Daily wear contact lenses with special dual focus zones to help with vision and defocus based on pupillary changes

• Combination therapy

  • Atropine + Ortho-K