What is myopia control for children?

Has your child been told they are short-sighted? Perhaps you are too and you’re all set to help them pick out their new prescription glasses each time their short-sightedness deteriorates, just as you did when you were a child. But did you know that eyecare has advanced considerably over the years and today you can actually help slow the progression of your child’s short-sightedness? This is called myopia control and it’s a service we’re proud to offer at Orpington Eyecare, your opticians in Orpington.

What is myopia?

Myopia is the clinical name for short-sightedness, which means you can’t focus properly on objects in the distance. As children grow, so do their eyes, but sometimes they can become too elongated, which is what results in myopia. It’s a condition that is on the rise with more children experiencing myopia at younger ages. The incidence of myopia is expected to increase significantly as lifestyle changes, with children taking part in more near-work activities like using digital devices, studying, reading and spending less time outdoors. Hereditary, behavioural and environmental factors also play a part. Being able to have your child’s myopia diagnosed early not only corrects their vision now, but can help slow the progression of myopia and preserve their vision and eye health for the future.

Managing myopia

Spectacle Lens solution

MiYOSMART is a new non invasive myopia management solution. It is safe and convenient as they are just like wearing ordinary spectacle lenses. The lenses provide the vision correction so your child will experience comfortable vision for both near and distance vision. All this whilst also working to reduce the progression of their shortsightedness. They are easy to adapt to and are suitable for full time daily wear for a wide range of activities.

Soft contact lens .

MiSight® lenses offer an effective solution to slow the progression of your child’s myopia. These soft contact lenses take a little practice to pop in and out, but we find children even as young as 8 tend to adapt well to them and enjoy the responsibility that comes with wearing contact lenses. MiSight® 1 day contact lenses correct your child’s vision but have also been designed to slow down the rate of myopia in children by over 50%.

Ortho K: the solution for kids and adults

You might be surprised by the notion of overnight vision correction. How could contact lenses possibly correct your vision while you sleep? Well, for starters, these are no ordinary contact lenses – these are Ortho K lenses. They’re designed to gently reshape the surface of your eye and in doing so, can correct many cases of short-sightedness. Once these lenses get to work at night and you remove them when you wake up in the morning, you won’t need to wear glasses or normal contact lenses during the day. Instead, you’ll experience crystal clear, pristine vision and freedom, of course.

Red Light therapy

 
Early, easy, more effective childhood myopia control
Early, easy, more effective childhood myopia control The patented Eyerising Myopia Management Device’s Repeated Low-level Red-light (RLRL) therapy is designed to be child-friendly, convenient to use at home, and more effective at controlling childhood myopia. The device is non-invasive and has no risk of infection. It can be used without additional medications, eyedrops, or contact lenses, with no known significant side effects. This makes it suitable and easily tolerated by children as young as 3 and up to 16. Easy to use myopia control at home Therapy involves looking into the device device for a 3 minute treatment, 2 times per day, 5 days per week, with a minimum of 4 hours between sessions. The device is controlled via a simple touchscreen and monitors patient use. The system also sends reminders to the child's guardians to maintain patient compliance and maximize treatment efficacy.