Written by Dr. Matthew Tran



Myopia, commonly known as near-sightedeness, is a person’s ability to see near, but inability to see far away. Generally, with low amounts of nearsightedness, a person may be able to get by, but as that amount increases, day to day tasks become more and more difficult. In a child, that includes looking at the board in school, learning to drive, and even sports. With increasing amounts of myopia, a person has a higher risk of developing certain diseases such as retinal tears or detachments, glaucoma, cataracts, and myopic maculopathy. As a person ages, it is one of the primary reasons they decide to get refractive surgery like LASIK.

There are many factors as to why a person may be nearsighted. Genetics is the biggest factor: myopic parents will often pass on their nearsightedness to their children. Environmental factors are another consideration we must account for. Many studies show that increasing amounts of near activities can contribute to increasing amounts of myopia. With the introduction of more and more screen time, near activities become nearly impossible to avoid in our everyday lives.

For kids we are worried that as they grow, their eyes will also lengthen which increases their myopia. Here at Los Altos Optometric Group, we have three different methods of controlling myopia:
 

• Ortho-keratology, also known as ortho-k, is a hard contact lens that the patient will wear at night. Effectively, the hard contact lens will flatten the cornea thereby correcting the prescription. The patient would not need to wear anything during the day, neither glasses nor contact lenses.

• A soft contact lens called MiSight - very similar to the soft lenses people wear every day. The specialized concentric ring design which helps to reduce the eye’s axial length growth.

• Finally, atropine eye drops - a medicated eye drop used at night before bed time. All of which have been clinically shown to slow myopia progression

With many different options available, our doctors will be able to find out which is best for you. Feel free to book a myopia management assessment exam with us here at Los Altos Optometric Group!