How can a contact lens change your child’s destiny?

Do you recall your kid’s pediatrician measuring your newborn’s weight, height, and head circumference at every visit? That is done to ensure that the baby is within the normal range of measurements for their age group.

Similar charts exist for children’s vision, that predict if your child will be nearsighted or if the eyes will develop normally.

Children are expected to be far-sighted or hyperopic, meaning everything they see focuses on the retina. And as the child grows, the eyeball grows (slightly) and becomes less far-sighted. If the eye continues to grow (the axial length increases and the eyeball becomes elongated) the child becomes near-sighted or myopic. The problem with myopia is that it’s the manifestation of an increased axial length which causes abnormalities and “stretching” of the retina. Increasing myopia puts the child at risk for retinal tears and holes, retinal detachment, myopic degeneration, glaucoma, and other ocular diseases. Increased myopia also makes the person’s visual experience worse, and limits their options for refractive surgery as they get older.

The risk factors for increased myopia include: having one or two nearsighted parents, being of Asian descent, developing myopia before grade school, being born premature, and others.

As a parent, I was torn between encouraging my kids to read and wanting their eyes to develop normally. We managed myopia through lifestyle; controlling the amount of time the kids do near work, spending more time outdoors, controlling their working distance, etc.

Other available options are now available for nearsighted children or children who are at risk for myopia.  Available options for myopia management include orthokeratology, CRT or ortho-k lenses, soft contact lenses for myopia management, low-concentration atropine, and lifestyle changes.

Outside the United States, lenslet spectacles such as Miyosmart, Stellest, and Myocare are available options. Red light therapy for myopia management is another practice used in other countries but has not yet been approved for use in the United States.

Ask your doctor about myopia management, and start as soon as possible. Remember, myopia only worsens and the best we can hope for is to slow it down.