Myopia Management
What is Myopia?
Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a condition that causes blurry distance vision while closer objects remain clear. It occurs when the eye is too long, or the cornea is too steep. Myopia usually starts during early childhood and can progress throughout adolescence causing worsening of your childs’ vision. There is growing concern of myopia, beyond the need for glasses, contacts, and Lasik, as it drastically increase the future development of sight-threatening complications such as cataracts, glaucoma, retinal ears and detachments, and degeneration of the macula.
About 75% of children with myopia received a diagnosis between 3 and 12 years old. There is no cure for myopia, but treatment options are available to control the progression of myopia if it’s identified early on. At Clearvue Eye Care, we recommend a yearly comprehensive eye exam for all children, even if they have passed their vision screening at the pediatrician’s office, to detect any early onset of myopia.
Are our children becoming more myopic during Covid? An editorial titled “2020 as the Year of Quarantine Myopia” in the Jan. 14 issue of Jama Ophthalmology reports a recent new study of school-aged children of age 6-8, they have become far more myopic than expected during Covid-19 home confinement when comparing the changes in acuity measured in children with the same age group from 2015 through 2019. Glasses do not help slow your child’s prescription from increasing and their vision becoming more blurry.
Clearvue Eye Care offers evidence-based Myopia Control Therapy that can slow down your child’s myopia progression. There are currently three treatment options for myopia control;
MiSight 1 - day contact lenses (Brilliant Futures Myopia Management Program) – FDA approved disposable soft contact lenses worn during the day.
OrthoK lenses - FDA-approved overnight RGP lenses specially designed to be worn while sleeping and are removed in the morning to gently change the shape of the cornea overnight. This allows the patient to wake up with clear vision to reduce their dependency of contact lenses or glasses through out the day.
Atropine eye drop treatment -low dose atropine drops used daily at night has been shown to effectively slow myopia progression and axial length elongation.
Schedule a consultation with Clearvue Eye Care by calling (212) 255-2240 or email info@clearvuenyc.com to discuss your treatment options.