A Growing Problem For Children’s Vision

As a parent, you want to set your child up for success in every possible way. But what can you do about their myopia getting worse year after year? Myopia, or nearsightedness, can do more than make distant objects difficult to discern—it may put your child at risk for serious vision problems later in life.

Vista Eyecare offers myopia control, which involves a custom treatment plan to slow your child’s myopia development. By slowing down myopia, you can ensure that laser surgery is still an option for them in adulthood and help decrease the risks of some more serious eye problems. Ask us if myopia control is right for your child.

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What is Myopia?

Myopia is a type of refractive error that affects children and adults, although it is most concerning when it occurs in young children.

In a non-myopic eye, light focuses directly on the retina, allowing the viewer to see things clearly, even at great distances. However, a myopic eye is too long, which causes light to focus in front of the retina. As a result, the viewer struggles to see distant objects clearly.

As children grow, their eyes grow with them. For a child with myopia who already has a long eye, further growth means that light focuses farther and farther from the retina. As a result, the child’s distance vision gets progressively worse, and they need increasingly thick eyeglass lenses to see clearly.

The younger a child is when they first develop myopia, the more likely they will end up with a high amount of myopia by the time their eyes stop growing.

Early Myopia Management Matters

While myopia is a concern for adults too, it’s essential to detect it as early as possible in children because their eyes have so much potential for growth. Without myopia control, children can progress into high myopia by the time they are adults. Adults with high myopia may not be candidates for laser vision correction and are more likely to develop certain eye diseases, including:

We are now offering Myopia Management Assessments and annual exams. During the Myopia Management Assessment we will go through a Myopia Risk Assessment, axial length and pupil measurements with MYAH, Optomap imaging, cycloplegic refraction, and patients and parents will have dedicated time to sit down with the Optometrist and discuss the different treatment options and what would be the best option for their child. Included in the Assessment cost is monitoring throughout the year (usually at 6 months but sometimes more frequently depending on the doctor’s recommendation).

How Can Vista Eyecare Help?

Every person is unique, so we take great care ensuring your child’s treatments suit them. Based on their specific needs, we can use one or more of these research-backed approaches to control their myopia.

Diluted Atropine Drops

Studies have shown that low-dose atropine eye drops effectively slow down myopia progression. This treatment is great for children who may not be ready to wear glasses or contact lenses. It may also be added to other treatments.

Glasses with Specialty Lenses

MiYOSMART lenses have a unique lens design that uses myopic defocusing, to change how light focuses at different points of your retina.

These eyeglass lenses focus light normally at the centre of your retina to help you see clearly. However, the myopic defocus segments on the lens focus light just in front of the peripheral retina. This intentional defocus of the peripheral light seems to send a signal to the eyes that slows down elongation.

Multifocal Soft Contact Lenses

MiSight contact lenses use a defocusing technique similar to the one used by MiYOSMART lenses. However, instead of small myopic defocus segments, these contact lenses have concentric rings of defocus that focus peripheral light in front of the retina, slowing down myopia progression.

Take Control of Your Vision

It’s time to take control of your vision with the team at Vista Eyecare. If you or your child are struggling with myopia, please call us today to book your family’s next eye appointment.

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