Myopia Management

Refractive eye conditions today can have serious consequences tomorrow. Myopia (near-sightedness) has long been simply thought of a harmless refractive condition. There is currently a ground swell amongst eye care professionals to consider near-sightedness not just a refractive condition but also a disease.

When a child develops myopia early, they tend to develop much higher myopia. The higher the myopia, the more likely a sight threatening disease will occur over that child’s lifetime. These sight threatening diseases include myopic maculopathy (a form of macular degeneration), retinal detachment, glaucoma and cataracts.

Myopia management uses CRT (corneal refractive therapy), an FDA approved specially designed ridged lens that is worn at night while sleeping to gently reshape the cornea which, when removed in the morning, allows for clear vision all day long without the need for glasses or day time contact lenses. A byproduct of CRT is that it tends to slow and sometimes stop the progression of near-sightedness which, over time will also reduce the chance of eye pathology.

Other methods of myopia management also include FDA approved special designed soft contact lenses that are only worn during waking hours and only come in a daily disposable modality.

Other soft lens designs have shown promise, but are not FDA approved. FDA approval does not mean that these other soft lenses are not affective, they only can be used off-label.

Whether using CRT’s or soft lenses, both modalities are safe but still have small risks inherent in wearing contact lenses. These risks can be further reduced by being very meticulous with lens wearing schedules, and paying strict attention to clean hands and clean contacts.

Another approach to myopia management uses a pharmacy prepared form of a common ophthalmic eyedrop to slow the progression of myopia. This drop has been shown to be affective while the patient is on it, but when the drop is stopped, there is often a dramatic rebound affect into rapid onset of increased myopia.

Our office highly recommends, promotes and encourages myopia management.