Myopia control refers to techniques employed by specially trained optometrists to slow or even stop the progression of myopia (“short-sightedness”) in children and teenagers during the growing years. Often myopia is quite genetic, and parents who have gone short sighted themselves as youngsters will bring their children in to ask if anything can be done to “slow things down”? If a child’s prescription can be kept at a lower level, it’s much easier for them later on as adults because they are more suitable for laser surgery, and less likely to suffer from myopic complications such as retinal detachment. There are currently four techniques being used for myopia control:
1)
Orthokeratology (“Ortho-K)- this involves sleeping in rigid gas permeable contact lenses at night to re-shape the cornea
2)
Specialised multifocal soft lenses worn daily
3)
Atropine 0.01% eye drops- still in experimental stages
4)
Steeply curved spectacle lenses- have some effect
All these techniques try to achieve the same thing- providing the periphery of the retina with as sharp an image as possible. It has been proven in independent research that a blurred image on the peripheral retina encourages the eyeball to elongate, causing progressive myopia.
At Mortimer Hirst we have been fitting specialised Ortho-K and multifocal lenses for myopia control for the past 4 ½ years, with great success. Most of our children enrolled in these programmes enjoy stable non-deteriorating vision from when they start until 18-20 years old, when the myopia is unlikely to progress further anyway. For more information on these exciting techniques, please contact us for a brochure!
