Multifocal contact lenses for myopia management
Most multifocal contact lenses for myopia management are made as daily disposable contacts which are safe and young children and have been shown to be greatly favored by children for a variety of reasons. Contacts prevent sports injuries, enable better vision, increase social acceptance, and are easy to use.
Why does myopia or nearsightedness need to be managed?
As a child’s prescription increases, they are at a greater risk for eye diseases like glaucoma, macular degeneration, cataracts, and retinal detachment. Fortunately, multifocal contact lenses are a standard form of treatment using managing progressive myopia to ensure a child’s prescription maintains at a stable level.
The rapid growth of myopia across the world in what is called an epidemic has led Dr. Schwartz to develop her own comprehensive myopia management program that assesses your child’s vision to prevent the progression of myopia. Our program addresses different visual modalities through the use of other options like Ortho-K or atropine eye drops besides using various soft multifocal contact lenses. She will also monitor your child’s eye health through follow-up visits, prescription changes, and axial length measurements, to create a detailed and accurate report of your child’s eye health.
What are multifocal contact lenses and how do they work?
Multifocal contact lenses are made where specific zones of the contact lens has a specific prescription in place. The goal of these lenses is to stop something called peripheral hyperopic defocus.
Peripheral Hyperopic defocus is when light passes through your eye but falls behind the retina in the periphery. Because the light is not being directed properly, modern research suggests that the body’s chemistry well change in response to these signals. The final result leads to the eyeball elongating or increasing its axial length, which leads to myopia progression, and It ultimately compromises the structure of the eye. Although the child’s vision is easily corrected by glasses, the structural damage has happened and can’t be restored. This is why many eye diseases are linked to myopia progression.
Multifocal contact lenses or lenses designed to slow myopia progression by directing the light to reach the retina correctly and help a child see their best.
As our optometrist and contact lens specialist Dr. Schwartz says;
“The development in contact lens design is amazing, but one of the most incredible is the situation with contact lenses used for myopia management.”
Common Questions: Contact Lenses For Children
What Age Should My Child Wear Contacts?
Contact lenses in young children is perfectly safe and widely favored by both the child and the parent in multiple studies. The main question to ask the parent is if the child is mature enough to follow the instructions of proper care.
Because of the importance of slowing down the progression of myopia in young children who are most prone to high myopia, parents should seriously weigh the benefits and negatives of contact lenses in young children.
Why can’t my child wear glasses to correct their vision?
Many of our patients from Scarsdale and Hartsdale ask us if glasses are a suitable option instead of contact lenses. This is often due to the safety concerns involving contact lenses, and the Simplicity involved with my glasses.
Research indicates that standard single vision eyeglasses fail to help slow a child’s progressing myopia, while specially designed contacts do. Multifocal contact lenses are preferred for myopia management, but if the child can’t wear contact lenses, multifocal or progressive eyeglasses are often recommended.
One of the interesting ideas related to this question is that teaching children at a young age the proper method of care for contact lenses actually makes them less likely than adult wearers to have complications. A child who learns how to properly take care of your contact lenses, we’ll treat it as a normal activity and be consistent with its upkeep much like brushing your teeth. However, when a child is older or even a young adult, it’s harder for them to get adjusted to the routine of properly caring for contact lenses.
Contact Lenses For Myopia Management
MiSight Contact Lenses For Myopia Management
CooperVision's MiSight 1 Day Contact Lenses are daily single-use contact lenses shown to significantly slow the progression of myopia in children.
NaturalVue Multifocal Lenses for Myopia Management
Myopia, or nearsightedness, can affect not only your child’s vision but their school performance as well. Fortunately, there are ways to slow and sometimes stop myopia’s progression.