Myopia
Myopia (short-sightedness) refers to a type of refractive error where light rays that enter the eye falls short of hitting the retina. People with myopia usually have blurry distance vision. Although the blurry vision caused by myopia can be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or refractive laser surgery, a highly myopic eye (i.e. >-6D) is more at risk of serious eye diseases such as retinal detachments, glaucoma and myopic retinopathy.
During childhood is where much of the eyeball elongation (axial length growth) occurs and so early intervention is paramount. The aim of intervention is to slow axial length growth and in turn slow myopia progression. Children who develop myopia at a younger age (especially under 10) are more likely to experience faster and greater increases in myopia. Other risk factors include family history of myopia, limited time spent outdoors and lots of near work.
At iSight Specialists we are able to monitor your child’s eye growth using axial length measurements
Myopia control
Increased time spent outdoors (2+ hours per day) and reducing time spent on near tasks/phones/digital devices should be implemented along with possibly one or more of the following:
- Low-dose Atropine Eye drops
- Glasses Defocus-Incorporated Multisegment (D.I.M.S.) (MiYOSMART lens) Highly Aspherical Lenslet (H.A.L.) (Stellest lens)
- MiSight Contact Lenses
- Orthokeratology
For further information about these myopia control options, please see the links below.
https://www.wspos.org/swdcore/uploads/WSPOS-Myopia-Consensus-Statement-2023-1.pdf