Myopia Control｜Memorial Eye Center Baytown

Protect Your Child’s Vision with Myopia Control

Approximately 41% of Americans have myopia, and the number is expected to rise. This condition may worsen during childhood, increasing your child’s risk of significant eye problems.

Regular eye exams are crucial for catching this condition early. While you can correct myopia at any age, you cannot control it as an adult. With proper treatment, you can protect your child’s vision for the future.

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What Is Myopia?

Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a common refractive error that many develop as children. This condition occurs when the eyeball is too long or the cornea has a steep curvature. Because of the eye’s irregular shape, light cannot focus on the retina properly, causing far-away objects to appear blurry.

Vision tends to stabilize in early adulthood, but myopia may worsen until this happens. Without proper intervention, your child’s vision may worsen and lead to a reliance on heavy prescriptions as an adult.

Myopia Control Treatments

Anyone can have myopia, but this condition typically develops in childhood and worsens with time. Children’s eyes grow with them as they age, potentially causing a mild case of myopia to progress into a more severe form. When myopia progresses enough, it becomes known as high myopia.

High myopia increases the risk of developing several eye conditions, including:

If caught early enough, myopia progression can be controlled by slowing or potentially stopping eyeball growth.

Orthokeratology (Ortho-K)

Orthokeratology, or ortho-k, is a specialty contact lens designed to reshape the cornea. This rigid gas permeable lens can correct and control myopia, providing clearer vision while slowing eyeball growth. By flattening the center of the cornea, light focuses properly as it enters the eye.

Ortho-k contacts are for overnight use, and you remove them in the morning. Wearing these lenses as you sleep means you have corrected vision during the day. A review of several studies found that ortho-k is a safe and effective treatment for children with myopia.

Multifocal Contact Lenses

Multifocal contact lenses help correct and control myopia. The design of these lenses brings peripheral light rays into focus while providing vision correction in the center of the lens. Like a bullseye, the center of the lens offers clearer vision while the outer rings add focusing power.

A study found that multifocal contact lenses can slow myopic progression by approximately 43% over 3 years.

MiSight Contact Lenses

MiSight contacts are daily-disposable lenses for correcting and controlling myopia. You apply these contacts in the morning and throw them away at the end of the day.

These lenses feature a central area designed to correct myopia, and peripheral rings surround the lens to slow myopic progression. A 3-year study on MiSight contacts discovered that these lenses slowed axial eyeball growth by 59%.

Atropine Eye Drops

Atropine eye drops help to relax the eye’s focusing mechanisms. These drops dilate the pupil and temporarily paralyze the focusing muscle inside of the eye.

Previous research on low-dose atropine eye drops found that this treatment can slow eyeball growth by up to 65%. This treatment is effective, but your child will still require vision correction throughout the day.

Avoid a Prescription-Heavy Future for Your Child

Without proper treatment, myopia can progress and worsen your child’s vision, putting them at risk of significant eye conditions. Single-vision glasses cannot slow myopic progression, but we have several treatments that can. Book an appointment with Memorial Eye Center Baytown to help preserve your child’s vision.