Myopia Management

Protecting Your Child’s Vision

Children’s eyes grow and change incredibly fast, and they may not even realize or understand when they have problems seeing. Routine eye exams are important because they allow us to track changes in your child’s visual development and detect issues early.

Early detection of myopia protects your child’s eye health. Untreated myopia can lead to high myopia and vision loss. High myopia can also increase the risk of cataracts, macular degeneration, open-angle glaucoma, retinal tears, and retinal detachment.

We offer myopia treatment options like MiSight, atropine eye drops, and Ortho-K lenses. If your child is experiencing symptoms of myopia, our friendly team can help. Schedule an appointment with us today!

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How Myopia Affects Children

Myopia occurs when the eyes grow too long. Children’s eyes are meant to stop growing by the time they’re 12, but if their eyes grow too quickly or continue growing, this can lead to myopia.

Symptoms of myopia can include:

Squinting
Eye strain
Headaches
Blurry vision at a distance

To diagnose myopia in your child, we measure the axial length of their eyes—the distance from the front to the back of the eye. Ideally, this measurement should be below 26 mm.

How We Diagnose Myopia

Once myopia develops, it tends to worsen. Children’s eyes grow incredibly fast. If your child develops myopia at a younger age, like between the ages of 6 and 8, their risk of developing high myopia and other sight-threatening conditions increases.

We measure the length of your child’s eyes using axial length measurements. After a quick, noninvasive scan, we’ll compare your child’s axial length to an eye growth chart to determine the severity of their myopia.

Axial length measurements can also measure your child’s myopia management progress.

How We Manage Myopia

We offer several myopia-management options. Our approach focuses on slowing your child’s myopia progression by controlling their eye growth and reshaping their corneas (the lenses of their eyes).

We provide a personalized approach suited to your child’s unique needs. Our friendly team will guide you through the process. If you have any questions, please ask us. We’re here to help.

MiSight Lenses

MiSight lenses are soft, daily disposable contact lenses designed specifically for children as young as 8. They focus light in front of the retina instead of behind it, helping reduce eye growth and allowing for clear vision throughout the day.

Ortho-K Lenses

Orthokeratology (ortho-k) lenses shape your child’s cornea (lens of the eye) to correct how light is bent inside the eye. They’re worn overnight and removed in the morning, providing clear vision for the rest of the day.

Atropine Eye Drops

Atropine is a drug that widens the pupil. In low doses, atropine eye drops can help manage myopia in children. These drops can slow down the progression of myopia by controlling eye growth.

High Myopia & Vision Loss

Untreated myopia can lead to high myopia and increase the risk of eye diseases and conditions that cause vision loss. High myopia is generally defined as a correction of -5 dioptres or higher.

Some of the eye diseases and conditions include:

Cataracts
Macular degeneration
Open-angle glaucoma
Retinal tears, which can lead to a retinal detachment

Retinal detachment can affect patients of any age, so it’s important to start managing your child’s myopia early. We use modern technology and a personalized approach to diagnose and treat children experiencing myopia.