Apr 17, 2025
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What is Myopia ?
Myopia is also known as short-sightedness, which is when you struggle to see things at distance such as watching TV or looking at a board at school. Children often describe this as blurry vision. It usually occurs when the eye grows too quickly in childhood and becomes too long for a given age. Children’s chances of being short sighted are higher if members of their family are myopic. Myopia can worsen quite quickly in younger children because their eyes are growing at a faster rate and it is expected that it will affect more than 50% of the world's population by 2050.
Why are children becoming more myopic?
Over time children's lifestyles have changed, they now spend more time on screens / gaming and less time outside playing, educational demands are higher, and urbanisation can impact this. Myopia is also affected by our genetics.
Why is it important to control myopia?
Myopia control most importantly helps to reduce the level of prescription for the future and reduce a child’s dependency on glasses and contact lenses. Myopia can lead to more serious eye conditions in the future such as myopic degeneration, retinal detachment, glaucoma and cataracts so taking action now is beneficial.
What is myopia control?
Myopia control aims to slow down the progression of short sightedness in children by using specialist spectacle and contact lenses and lifestyle changes. Myopia control really does work and this has been validated through clinical trials. Myopia control can slow the progression of short sightedness by up to 67%.
Myopia control spectacle and contact lenses are in effect dual purpose. In the here and now they will correct a child’s vision to help them with their day-to-day life. Whilst doing this they are slowing the progression of the short sightedness for the future, thus reducing a child’s reliance on their prescription potentially for the rest of their lives.
At Bromley Cross Opticians we are proud to supply Zeiss Myocare spectacle lenses which are proven to slow myopic progression. They are intended to be worn for the majority of the day and are available in thinner and tougher options too. As with all Zeiss lenses they are available with Duravision platinum coatings and full UV 400 protection. Myocare lenses have age specific designs and feature special ring-shaped optical structures on the lens surface which produce a peripheral distortion. This triggers a signal at the back of the eye to slow down excessive growth of the eye and ultimately myopia progression.
Your child will receive regular checks with our Optician and if there is a change of 0.50 of a dioptre or more (so a 2-step change or above) within 12 months the lenses will be updated free of charge.
Click the link for more information on the Zeiss Lenses. - ZEISS MyoCare lenses
At Bromley Cross Opticians we also provide MiSight daily contact lenses for myopia control. These are also intended to be worn for the majority of the day and we can guide your child safely through the process of how to wear contact lenses. They have a special optical design (ie a correction zone for clear vision and a treatment zone to reduce myopic progression) MiSight lenses are ideal for active children and allow them to feel more confident when taking part in sporting activities. They can cut the worsening of myopia by more than half and the benefits are proven to last after the treatment has ended.
More information about MiSight lenses is available at www.misight.co.uk
Myopia control lenses are more expensive than standard lenses but they are worth the extra money in the long run. They are a credible option to improve your child’s vision now and improve their future eye health.
Another aspect of myopia control is Lifestyle changes. We encourage myopic children to spend more time outdoors, plenty of sleep, screen free time and to keep objects at a distance (i.e. keeping books and devices at least the same distance as from your knuckle to your elbow. Go on, give it a try!
What can YOU do?
Firstly, Look out for the signs - you may see your child struggling to see distance targets and sitting close to TV , tired eyes , rubbing eyes. Teachers may also feedback that your child is struggling to see the board at school.
Changes to your child’s lifestyle can also reduce the progression of myopia. You could encourage them to play outside more which gives their eyes a chance to relax.
At Bromley Cross Opticians we are blessed with a Zeiss Visufit 1000 which takes multiple measurements to helps our team to fit lenses perfectly to frames in the most accurate way possible.
Click the link to see the advance Zeiss technology ZEISS VISUFIT 1000 Platform
Starting early with myopia control will ensure the best result so if you feel that your child is struggling with their vision give us a call on 01204 771818 to arrange an appointment.
