What is Myopia?

Myopia, also known as short-sightedness, is blurry vision in the long distance and usually starts in childhood, being more common in children who have myopic parents.

It starts at a young age and myopia occurs when the person’s eyeball begins to elongate or their cornea is too curved. When this happens, it will prevent light from focusing on the retina and hence blur their distance vision.

Myopia tends to get worse as we get older, and the younger it starts, the worse it may get.

Myopia is dramatically on the rise around the world and in the year 2000 it affected 27% of the population of Western Europe, but by 2020 it had risen to 37%.

Should I be Concerned?

By 2050 50% of the population will be myopic.

Short-sightedness is connected with a number of more serious eye problems in later life, such as retinal detachment, cataract, glaucoma and macula disease and it can affect the quality of their life.

As myopia increases, the risk of developing these eye problems increases.

Acting early and managing myopia progression will dramatically reduce the risk of eye diseases.

What can we do to help?

We are committed to providing the best care for your children’s eyes, so we will suggest solutions to manage myopia if we think it may be helpful.

All our clinical staff have been accredited for myopia management and are able to offer advice on how to manage myopia progression and discuss all the available suitable options with you and your child during their appointment and recommend the best solution for your child.

Why Myopia Control Matters

High levels of myopia can increase the risk of serious eye conditions later in life, including:

• Retinal detachment.
• Glaucoma.
• Cataracts.
• Myopic maculopathy (damage to the retina caused by myopia).

By managing myopia early, we can help reduce these risks and preserve long-term vision health.

What can you do to help?

• Have regular eye tests
• Spending more time outdoors, 14 hours per week, has been shown to reduce chances of becoming myopic.
• Act as soon as possible
• Speak to our clinical staff
• Call us to book your free assessment
• More time spent on close work increases the chance of myopia.
• Use the 20-20 rule- for every 20 minutes on the near tasks, take a 20 second break and look into the distance 20 feet (6 meters) away.

How do I know if my child is myopic?

Signs to look out for are:

• Are they struggling to see the board at school?
• Are they complaining of tiredness or eye strain?
• Are they complaining of headaches?
• Are they squinting when looking in the distance?
• Are they sitting close to the TV?
• Excessive rubbing of their eyes

Should I book a Myopic Assessment?

If any of the points below apply to you, if you are not sure, or want peace of mind and want to take the best possible care of your children’s eyes, then call us and we can do a free assessment to determine the risk of myopia.

• Is your child already myopic?
• Is your child under 16 years old?
• Is your child a student in full-time education?
• Does your child spend less than 1.5 hours outside every day?
• Does your child spend more than 2 hours reading or using a handheld device (outside of school hours)?
• Are any of the parents myopic (it can still affect 1 in 4 people if none of the parents are myopic)?

Treatment Options

Solutions for myopia control are very simple and readily available.

Contact Lenses

There are several types of new contact lenses that can now slow down the progression of short-sightedness in children. These have proven to reduce the severity of myopia development by 50%.

Spectacle Lenses

Spectacle lenses are also available to help reduce myopia in children. We offer a wide range of different lenses for myopic treatment.

What should you do?

• Call Surrey Opticians to book your free myopia risk assessment
• Book Sight Test if the last sight test was over a year ago,
• Discuss the options that are available

Frequently Asked Questions

Is one treatment more effective than another?

Both myopic management glasses and myopic management contact lenses have similar results.

What age can my child start myopia management treatment?

There is no minimum age when myopia management treatment can be started. However, for contact lenses your child needs to be old enough to be able to carefully use and look after their lenses. We will show them how to do this.

Is myopia management safe?

Wearing myopia management glasses does not have any more risks than wearing standard glasses, but some people may experience blurred vision towards the edges of the lens.

The risks of wearing contact lenses for myopia management are similar to the risks of wearing standard contact lenses. It is important that your child follows the advice given about hygiene and caring for the lenses to prevent any complications. It is also important that they have regular contact lens check-ups.

Is myopia management treatment available on the NHS?

Unfortunately, myopia management glasses and contact lenses are not available on the NHS in any part of the UK.

Will my child need to wear glasses or contact lenses after myopia management treatment?

It is very likely that your child will still have to wear glasses or contact lenses even if the treatment to manage their myopia has been successful. However, they are likely to have a lower level of myopia than they may have had without myopia management.

How will I know if myopia management is working?

We will measure the growth of their eye to check the progression.

Will myopia management treatment prevent my child from losing their sight in adulthood?

Myopia management may reduce the risk of your child having eye problems as a result of high myopia later in life, but the risk cannot be removed completely.

Does playing outdoors affect myopia in children?

Spending time outdoors does seem to help prevent or delay myopia in children who are at higher risk of developing it.

What happens if my child does not have myopia management treatment?

Your child will still be prescribed traditional glasses and/or contact lenses if they are diagnosed with myopia. These will improve how well your child can see but will not slow down the progression of myopia. Your child may be at a slightly higher risk of being affected by conditions that can lead to sight loss later in life compared with people who have normal vision. But most of these conditions can be treated and the risk of developing these conditions is small.

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