The more myopia a child has, the greater their risk of eye diseases such as retinal detachment, myopic macular degeneration and glaucoma later on in their life.
At the first diagnosis of MYOPIA PROGRESSION (>-0.50D increase in one year) your optician should give you a MyopiaChat. Ask for one if you haven’t had one yet.
CLICK HERE for 5 questions you need to ask them to get the most out of that chat and general advice for parents.
Look, you musn’t worry as myopia is very common, ~25%-30% of your child’s school will probably have it. But you must act early to educate you and your child about it, to manage it effectively with lifestyle changes (more time outdoors and aapted screentime are the first important changes) and/or specialist glasses, day lenses or night lenses. If you do, they will have a better life (with better sight) and less risk of eye disease later in life.
MYOPIACHAT.ORG | advice for parents of a child with myopia
As parents we understand how difficult it is to chat to your kids about this, which is why MyopiaChat.org was created to help you have the conversation with your eye care practitioner and your child.
LOOK AFTER YOUR EYES LIKE YOU LOOK AFTER YOUR TEETH
Click on the link to see a useful way to educate your child about myopia. It’s important that they understand it too.
SUMMARY
Chat to your optician about Myopia Management and Myopia Control devices.
The good news is myopia can be controlled with:
- More outdoor time (their eye isn’t straining to focus all the time)
- Less or adapted screen time (their myopic eye isn’t good with screens)
There are now also devices on the market:
- Myopia control glasses
- Myopia control day lenses
- Night lenses (the site you’re on now) – perfect sight without glasses or day lenses
Short-sight can be controlled and myopia can be managed, but you need to start early. Every Dioptre counts.
“We only found out that ‘short-sight = myopia’ and that it was linked to eye disease when Benjamin was 14 … after a first diagnosis of ‘short sight’ when he was 9. 5 years later! It made us really angry to be honest. We got him into night lenses and they instantly stabilised his myopia. We have been told that he now has a 40% decreased risk of eye disease later in life, which is great, but it could have been a lot better. Which is why we’d recommend all parents to get serious about myopia and start managing it early. Get them outdoors more, cast screens to TV further away and understand the devices available: glasses, day lenses and night lenses. The photo below is our lad. Life is so much better for him now because of myopia control”. Tom Griffiths, Benjamin’s dad
Find out more
- MyopiaChat.org – parent advice site
- myopiacontrolawareness.org – glasses, day lenses & night lenses
- Is myopia a disease?
- What are night lenses? How do they work?