The Myopia Epidemic is getting worse every year. Eye professionals suspect that 2020’s pivot towards home and remote schooling during quarantine will cause the epidemic to accelerate even faster among school-aged children, leading parents to be looking for Myopia Control solutions that will not only help their children, but fit their lifestyle. NaturalVue Contact Lenses are fast becoming a preferred method of Myopia Control for many families.

What Is Myopia

Myopia is a usually-progressive eye condition that causes the eye to elongate, making distant vision blurry while close-up vision remains relatively sharp. When it’s known by its more common name, nearsightedness, it sounds rather tame. But the elongation of the eye can lead to an increased likelihood of many far more severe eye conditions, including macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinal detachment, and more. In some cases, these conditions can lead to blindness.

These eventualities make controlling Myopia an even more important and urgent goal for parents.

Other Myopia Treatments

NaturalVue Contact Lenses are not the only Myopia Treatment. In fact, Myopia can be treated a number of ways. One of the best ways is to prevent it in the first place. While heredity is often partially to blame for the onset of Myopia in children, it gets worse over time with continued close-up vision, such as what a child might experience when using small screens like laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

Even after your child has been diagnosed with Myopia, ensuring your child spends time outdoors for at least an hour a day can go a long way towards slowing the progression.

Atropine eye drops are an off-label treatment for Myopia Control. Atropine relaxes the focusing mechanism in the eye which is why it is often used for Myopia control. Unfortunately, myopic progression is only reduced during the first year of treatment.

Orthokeratology, or “Ortho-K”, is a contact lens treatment which is worn at night, when it gently reshapes the surface of the cornea. When removed in the morning, your eyes will be better able to focus during the day. With consistent nightly use and care, a single pair of Ortho-K lenses can correct your vision, and has even been shown to stop progression and to reverse Myopia.

NaturalVue Contact Lenses

While Ortho-K lenses are worn at night, multi-focal contact lenses are worn during the day, like most other contact lenses. These special NaturalVue Contact Lenses have zones with different powers, including an extended depth of focus (EDOF), centre distance design, to help correct nearsightedness and control for its progression.

Foundational research into multifocal lenses shows considerable possibilities in correcting Myopia, there is still a need for further investigation into the lenses full potential. That said, NaturalVue Contact Lenses are proven to be clinically effective.

  • 0.82 Diopters average decrease per year in children ages 6-19
  • 92% of children showed a decrease in myopia progression
  • 96% decrease in the rate of paediatric myopia progression

In other words, they can not only slow the progression of Myopia, and can halt it in the majority of cases. One other big benefit of the NaturalVue Multifocal Contact lenses is that they are easy-to-wear, single-use lenses and well-suited for children.

Which Myopia Treatment Is Right For Your Child?

Deciding which Myopia treatment is best for your child depends on a variety of factors. Both NaturalVue Contact Lenses and Ortho-K are effective for Myopia control. Younger children might do better with NaturalVue lenses, while children who spend a lot of time swimming or playing contact sports might be better off not wearing lenses during daytime, which indicates that Ortho-K is the right treatment.

But in all cases, the right thing to do is start with a Myopia Screening Exam. All children should have regular eye exams annually in order to diagnose and track a number of eye conditions, including Myopia. So make an appointment online for your child’s eye exam today, or call us at 818-891-6711. If your child has Myopia, we’ll discuss the diagnosis and appropriate treatments together.