Myopia Control

In light of Myopia Awareness week 2022, lets discuss myopia…

When I talk to the parents of children that I see, and mention myopia control, they look at me as if I’m speaking another language. In complete fairness, I can understand the blank stares, as the optometry profession hasn’t traditionally been very proactive in providing education or highlighting the health risks associated with short-sightedness in children. Luckily that’s all changing and the professional body and contact lens companies specializing in myopia control are starting to advertise with a vengeance.

So what is myopia control? What are the options? Does my child need it? Does my child really need it? Are there risks associated with the options? What should I choose?

These are just some of the questions I get asked once I’ve advised the parents that their child has myopia and/or progressive myopia.

Firstly, what is myopia?

Myopia is another word for short-sightedness - this means that the eye is too long and light is focused in front of the back of the eye (the retina). Glasses with minus lenses are used to place the image onto the retina. In layman’s terms the person can see up close, but their distance is blurry without glasses. Historically, we have always prescribed a single distance lens to wear for distance and recommended they be removed for close work to reduce over wear as this was originally thought to cause progression or worsening of their prescription.

Myopia progression in children has been the hot topic of research and investigation for over 20 years, with the last 5 in particular resulting in come very exciting outcomes for slowing its progression. This is important because increasing myopia over time increases the axial length (internal length) of the eye, leading to a higher risk of un-correctable visual impairment from glaucoma; retinal detachment and myopic maculopathy (reduced central vision). A prescription of -1.25 DS comes with 2x risk of retinal detachment and myopic maculopathy. If we can reduce the progression of your child’s myopia by 1D, we can reduce the risk of myopic maculopathy by a whopping 40%! (Bullimore and Brennan, 2019)

There are two main risk factors which determine your child’s risk of developing myopia - genetics and lifestyle. The risk is 1 in 2 when BOTH parents are myopic. 1 in 3 when ONE parent is myopic and 1 in 4 when NEITHER parent is myopic. Our modern lifestyles also influence the development of myopia - prolonged near tasks such as reading and gaming on portable devices, low levels of outdoor activity and poor lighting levels (Rose et al., 2008, Wolffsohn et al., 2016). Treating myopia early can slow its progression, reducing the potential risk of developing eye health issues in the future.

For more information or a better understanding of myopia control, it’s always best to consult your local optometrist!

Written by Karlee Foley

Optometrist/owner

BOptom (1st class honors), PGCOT, MOptom

References

Images from MyopiaProfile.com

Bullimore, M. and Brennan, N., 2019. Myopia Control: Why Each Diopter Matters. Optometry and Vision Science, 96(6), pp.463-465.

Rose, K., Morgan, I., Ip, J., Kifley, A., Huynh, S., Smith, W. and Mitchell, P., 2008. Outdoor Activity Reduces the Prevalence of Myopia in Children. Ophthalmology, 115(8), pp.1279-1285.

Wolffsohn, J., Calossi, A., Cho, P., Gifford, K., Jones, L., Li, M., Lipener, C., Logan, N., Malet, F., Matos, S., Meijome, J., Nichols, J., Orr, J., Santodomingo-Rubido, J., Schaefer, T., Thite, N., van der Worp, E. and Zvirgzdina, M., 2016. Global trends in myopia management attitudes and strategies in clinical practice. Contact Lens and Anterior Eye, 39(2), pp.106-116.