If your child has myopia (nearsightedness), you're probably wondering if there is a cure — or at least something that can be done to slow its progression so your child doesn't need stronger glasses year after year.
For years, eye care practitioners and researchers have been wondering the same thing. And there's good news: A number of recent studies suggest it may indeed be possible to at least control myopia by slowing its progression during childhood and among teenagers.
What Is Myopia Control?
Although an outright cure for nearsightedness has not been discovered, your eye doctor can now offer a number of treatments that may be able to slow the progression of myopia.
These treatments can induce changes in the structure and focusing of the eye to reduce stress and fatigue associated with the development and progression of nearsightedness.
Why should you be interested in myopia control? Because slowing the progression of myopia may keep your child from developing high levels of nearsightedness that require thick, corrective eyeglasses and have been associated with serious eye problems later in life, such as early cataracts or even a detached retina.
Currently, four types of treatment are showing promise for controlling myopia:
Atropine eye drops
Multifocal contact lenses
Orthokeratology ("ortho-k")
Multifocal eyeglasses