Myopia Management is a way to slow down the development of Myopia (Short-sightedness) in the growing child. Myopia is when you can see close up but the distance is hazy.
Why do we want to limit children’s myopia?
High myopes (over -6.00 DS) have a higher risk of detached retinas, glaucoma and cataracts as their eyes age.
History
Earl Smith 111 in the USA wanted to know why children’s eyes grew too long so they went (short-sighted ) myopic. He did some research on Rhesus monkeys and discovered that it is where the peripheral (at the side) light focuses that drives the eye to grow.
Geoff Walline in the USA experimented with defocus contact lenses on children to slow eye growth. The light defocus is moved to fool the eye into thinking it has grown, when it hasn’t.
Paul Chamberlain (et.al) started clinical trials at Coopervision with Misight contact lenses. These contact lenses are now clinically proven to hold the eye growth down by nearly 2/3rds.
This means that with the use of Misight contact lenses the adult might only be -3.oo Dsph instead of -9.00 Dsph with no treatment, or -1.00 instead of -3.00.
Atropine eye drop treatment is not licenced for Myopia treatment in the UK. We would use this in the future but only if very low doses worked on slowing myopia. The high doses have side effects and the children wear hats, sunglasses and reading glasses as their pupils are dilated. The biggest research study in the Netherlands.