By Dr. Shelley Kim
This post is sponsored by The Vision Therapy Center, which has offices in Brookfield, Fond du Lac, and Madison, Wisc.
A child with myopia (also known as nearsightedness) faces numerous challenges, from squinting at the whiteboard to experiencing headaches and eye strain. Fortunately, prescription eyewear can help. But as I always explain to parents, that’s not necessarily enough.
Myopia is more than just an inconvenience that can be managed with glasses. If it’s not controlled, it can progress and lead to serious long-term vision problems.
Why Myopia Control Matters
When a child is diagnosed with myopia, it typically means they can see objects up close but struggle to see objects in the distance. Although this may seem like a relatively common vision problem, parents may not realize the implications of severe myopia.
Controlling myopia in childhood is critical because that’s when the condition can worsen quickly. Without intervention, some children’s prescriptions can reach extreme levels, like -8.00, -10.00, or even over -12.00.
Such strong prescriptions indicate that the eyes may be growing too long and thin, making them more prone to serious conditions like retinal detachment. Highly myopic children are also at greater risk for other eye-related problems later in life, such as glaucoma and macular degeneration.
What Is Myopia Control?
Myopia control, or myopia management, involves treatment strategies designed to slow or stop the progression of myopia in children. These may include wearing special glasses or contact lenses, as well as using low-dose atropine eye drops.
Recent research has shown that multifocal contact lenses, in particular, can be highly effective at controlling myopia. These lenses contain multiple prescriptions within a single lens.
Today, MiSight is the only FDA-approved brand of multifocal lenses specifically for myopia control. These contact lenses provide full correction where it’s needed and create myopic defocus in the periphery to slow the elongation of the eye and myopic progression.
In other words, these lenses aren’t just correcting vision—they’re part of an active treatment plan to prevent myopia from worsening. In the process, they reduce the risk of long-term myopia-related problems.
The Myopia Control Process
If you’re concerned about your child’s myopia, I strongly suggest making an appointment with The Vision Therapy Center (or a qualified optometrist in your area).
Note that The Vision Therapy Center offers a unique combination of services: We not only have the ability to provide multifocal contact lenses for myopia control but can also diagnose and treat the possible underlying conditions contributing to the myopia thanks to our optometric vision therapy services.
Here’s what you and your child can expect during our myopia control process:
- A Functional Vision Exam – The first step is conducting a functional vision exam to determine the extent of your child’s myopia and whether additional vision problems are contributing to the condition.
- Vision Therapy – In some cases, we may recommend vision therapy alongside multifocal lenses. Vision therapy helps train the eyes to work together more effectively and improves focus between near and far objects.
- Contact Lens Fitting – If your child’s exam indicates that they are a good candidate for multifocal lenses, we’ll determine the prescription and teach your child how to insert and remove the lenses. These special lenses have the dual purpose of correcting myopia and preventing it from worsening.
- Monitoring – Regular follow-up visits are crucial to track the progression of myopia and adjust the treatment as needed. The goal is to prevent your child’s prescription from worsening and keep it below a level where the risks of long-term damage become significant.
What Can You Do Next?
It’s not inevitable that your child’s myopia will worsen over time. You can take action to prevent that from happening.
If your child has received a myopia diagnosis, now is the time to act. Myopia control is about more than just clearer vision today; it’s about protecting your child’s long-term eye health.
For more information, consult a developmental optometrist. To set up an appointment with The Vision Therapy Center or find a qualified optometrist in your area, visit our contact page.
About the author: Dr. Shelley Kim’s background and professional experience enable her to take a holistic approach to optometric services. Her expertise includes optometric vision therapy; myopia control, a treatment using multifocal contact lenses to slow or even stop the progression of myopia; and dry eye treatment, a process that involves finding the root cause of a patient’s dry eyes and then providing a comprehensive treatment plan.
