What You Need To Know About Myopia Control In Children

Myopia affects more than just the need for glasses to correct blurry vision.
Children frequently experience myopia progression, which lowers their quality
of life and increases risks to their eye health. Myopia control treatments are
now able to improve children’s vision and promote long-term eye health. Read
on to find out more!

What is Myopia?

People with myopia have blurred vision when looking at objects from a
distance. When myopia worsens, the blur can become noticeable even when
the object is close to or at arm’s length. Near-sightedness or
short-sightedness are other names for it.

Myopia usually begins to develop between the ages of 6 and 14 and generally
becomes progressively worse every several months in children. It results from
the eyes’ rapid and excessive expansion relative to the usual pace of eye
growth. The eyes should continue to expand consistently in size until
adolescence, then stabilize. However, with myopia, the eyes develop too
quickly, causing rapid and continuous vision loss as well as ongoing eye
growth into adolescence and even early adulthood. Myopia progression is the
term used to describe this continuing deterioration.

What is Myopia Control?

The use of treatments intended to stop the advancement of myopia is known
as “myopia control.” These treatments include atropine eye drops, soft contact
lenses, ortho-k, and special types of glasses. Myopia control is especially
crucial for children, as it is in this age group that myopia is most likely to
progress or worsen quickly.

Both myopia management and myopia control are phrases used to refer to the
additional clinical care needed for myopic children and adults. Myopia control
typically entails using eye drops, contacts, or glasses to stop the progression
of myopia. Myopia control is a broad term that encompasses maintaining eye
health as well as various lifestyle and environmental factors that may
contribute to the advancement of myopia.

What are The Advantages of Myopia Control?

The primary advantage of treating myopia is to reduce the risks associated
with high myopia. Those with high degrees of myopia will have increased risk
for diseases such as glaucoma, retinal detachments, and myopic
maculopathy.

Myopia requires the use of spectacles or contact lenses to treat blurry
distance vision. If your myopia is lower, you will be more functional in the
mornings before putting on your contacts or glasses. You’ll be able to work a
little better without them as opposed to becoming totally incapacitated without
them.

Additionally, a lower prescription increases the likelihood that your child will be
a good candidate for laser eye surgery as an adult to correct their myopia, as
well as the likelihood that they will have better visual results after surgery.

What Else Should I know?

Numerous studies have demonstrated that a child’s or teen’s visual
environment can raise their chances of developing and progressing myopia.
When creating the visual environment, do increase the duration of outdoor
time your child has. Talk to your eye doctor or optometrist about the ideal
duration they should spend outdoors and on screens and/or reading to control
your child’s myopia. These can play a significant role in ensuring the optimum
results from myopia control treatments.

Let Treehouse Eyes Help Your Child Manage Myopia

Treehouse Eyes’ doctors use modern equipment to develop personalized treatment
plans for your child. Our treatment plans include special prescription eye drops and
customized daytime and overnight contact lenses. Treehouse Eyes doctors determine
which treatment plan works the best for your child at your initial consultation. Schedule a consultation now to find out more.