Myopia Control

Slow the progression of your child’s nearsightedness (difficulty seeing distant objects).

Slowing the progression is important because it reduces the risk of developing serious eye conditions later in life such as glaucoma, retinal detachment, and blindness.

Nearsightedness typically starts to develop in childhood and often progresses until about age 20.

There are several treatment options to slow the progression of myopia.

Call or Text us now and ask for a myopia control examination.

How do you “control” myopia (nearsightedness)?

Determining a myopia control plan for your child starts with a visit to your eye doctor. Schedule your appointment now and ask for a myopia control examination.

There are a few main approaches to controlling myopia in children, including:

Orthokeratology (Ortho-K)

Ortho-k – also known as Corneal Refractive Therapy (CRT) or “corneal reshaping lenses” – is a non-surgical approach that helps to reshape the curvature of your child’s cornea using specially designed gas-permeable contact lenses.

Ortho-K contact lenses are only worn during sleep at night and are used to temporarily correct mild to moderate myopia symptoms.

Evidence suggests that nearsighted children who undergo several years of orthokeratology may end up with less myopia as adults.

Multifocal contacts lenses

Multifocal contact lenses are special contacts that have different powers in different zones of the lens.

Researchers and eye doctors have found that multifocal soft contact lenses are also effective tools for myopia control in children. Some research demonstrates that using soft multifocal lenses in children caused a 25-50% reduction in progression over 2 years.

Atropine eye drops

Topical atropine is a medicine used to dilate the pupil and temporarily relax the eye’s focusing mechanism and has been used in myopia control for years.

Several studies show that low-dose atropine helps to reduce the progression of myopia in children, especially when combined with Ortho-K lenses.

If you’d like to learn more about myopia control, request an appointment at Oro Valley Eyecare today.