Myopia Management

What is myopia in myopia management?

myopia management

Myopia or nearsightedness is the term used to describe vision where distance is blurry. The number of kids being diagnosed with myopia is increasing at an alarming rate. Kids are spending less time outdoors and more time on electronic devices and holding reading material too close to their eyes.

Beyond the burden of buying stronger glasses or contact lenses every year, there are other dangers that come with increased nearsightedness. The increase in myopia significantly increases the risk for

  • retinal detachment (the tissue at the back of the eye that helps us see comes off and causes blurriness and maybe even blindness)
  • myopic macular degeneration (central vision loss leaving a blind spot in the middle of your vision)
  • glaucoma (increased eye pressure that causes loss of side vision)
  • cataracts (cloudy vision).

Every 1D increase in myopia, increases the risk for eye problems by 67%!

What increases the risk?

  1.  Parents who are nearsighted. If one parent is myopic, the risk is 1.42 times higher. With both parents being myopic, the risk is 2.70 times higher. The risk increases to 3.39 times if both parents are early myopes.
  2.  Less than 90min/day spent outdoors and more than 3hrs/day on near activities.
  3.  Having less than 0.50D of farsightedness at age 6-7.
  4.  Holding reading material less than 20cm distance to the eye for more than 45min at a time.

What can be done? What is myopia management?

The options for the slowing down of myopia fall into 3 main categories: drops, contact lenses and spectacles. Research shows that contact lenses are by far the most effective in slowing the progression of myopia. Every child is different, however, and should be dealt with on a case by case basis. The theory behind how each method works is also different. Here’s a recap of the options:

  1. Contact Lenses
    • orthokeratology (lenses worn at night while sleeping that acts like retainers for the eye)
    • special daily soft contact lenses
    • multifocal contact lenses
  2. Special design spectacles
  3. Atropine drops
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