Can you stop short-sight getting worse? (Yes!)

If you have been told that your child has short-sight, be aware that ‘short–sight’ is a colloquial term for a disease called ‘Myopia, which is directly linked to eye disease later on in life.

In short, the more myopia your child has as they reach adulthood (the more short-sighted they are), the greater the risk of further eye disease later in life such as detached retinas, myopic macular degeneration and Glaucoma.

Your child’s myopic eye, instead of being round, is shaped more like an egg or a rugby ball. Myopia is shown as a ‘minus’ on their prescription e.g. -3.25D. “D” means Dioptres, the measurement.

If you believe short-sight is harmless, then think again. The good news is that it can be controlled with:

  1. More outdoor time (their eye isn’t straining to focus all the time)
  2. Less or adapted screen time (their myopic eye isn’t good with screens)

There are now also devices on the market:

  1. Myopia control glasses
  2. Myopia control day lenses
  3. Night lenses (the site you’re on now) – perfect sight without glasses or day lenses

So yes, short-sight can be controlled and myopia can be managed, but you need to start early.

“We only discovered myopia control when Benjamin was 13/14 when he was already -4D. We put him straight into night lenses. His myopia stabilised immediately. Now 18 his myopia is still stable at -4.5D and we understand that he has a 40% decreased risk of eye disease later on in life, which is amazing. But I’m gutted we didn’t start earlier and keep him under -2D. Night lenses, and myopia control, have changed his life. That’s him in tbe pic below surfing, a sport he gave up when he was 12 when he coudn’t see the waves. We had no idea that short-sight was a disease called myopia, the risks attached to it and that you could stop short-sight getting worse. I’m so glad we found out. Our advice to parents is to address this early as every dioptre counts. Ask your optician for a MyopiaChat and get them to explain to you the 3 options for myopia control of glasses, day lenses and night lenses”. Tom Griffiths, Benjamin’s dad

Night lenses - orthokeratology ortho-k sleep contact lens - change life - Benjamin surfer square

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