Sometimes I think kids are indestructible.
Who else can survive on Mac and Cheese and happily dodge bedtime? Laugh at playground injuries that have Mom or Dad scrambling for an ice pack? Fight off two bad guys by themselves while their parents are away for Christmas?
As parents, we know the truth. Despite their energy and resiliency, children can develop certain vision issues that we need to watch for. One of them is myopia, more commonly known as nearsightedness. In this blog, we share common signs of myopia in children and how MiSight® myopia management contact lenses can help.
How Do I Know If My Child Has Myopia?
Children with myopia usually have an eyeball that is too long from front to back. It can also develop if the cornea, the clear window at the front of the eye, is too steeply curved. When light enters your child’s eye, it falls just short of the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back. As a result, distant objects appear blurry and close objects appear clear.
Myopia usually develops in children between the ages of six and 14. It’s estimated that 5% of preschoolers, 9% of school-aged children, and 30% of teenagers are affected by it, with onset being more likely if their parents are nearsighted.
Your child may have nearsightedness if he or she:
- Holds books or smartphones close to their face
- Moves close to TV or movie screens
- Sits at the front of the classroom
- Stays away from activities that need good distance vision, like sports
- Gets frequent headaches
Nearsightedness can lead to difficulties with school and sports performance. While glasses are a common treatment option, there are also contact lenses designed for kids. One of them is MiSight® 1 day soft contact lenses.
Myopia Management for Children With MiSight®
MiSight® vision correction consists of daily disposable, soft contact lenses designed to control myopia progression in children aged eight to 12. Its FDA-approved design corrects refractive error and slows eye elongation.
MiSight® lenses have two control zones for myopia and two for vision correction. The lens center emphasizes vision correction while alternating rings around the center focus on myopia control. The vision correction zones correct myopia for all vision directions while the control rings slow eye elongation through myopic defocus.
So how are MiSight® lenses different from regular contacts? With most standard contact lenses, the focus is only on correcting myopia. They support clearer vision but don’t address the progression of myopia because they don’t have the ‘treatment zones’ explained above. They’re also more comfortable to wear than rigid contact lenses and can be thrown away at the end of the day, so you don’t have to worry about cleaning or losing them.
This three-year study took a closer look at the effect of MiSight® lenses over time and found them highly effective in slowing myopia progression in children, especially when compared to standard single-vision contacts.
Conclusion
At Belle Vue Speciality Eye Care, we know how myopia can affect your child at home, school, and the sports field. Early detection and state-of-the art treatments like MiSight® 1 day soft contact lenses can address these difficulties and make their vision as super-powered as they are! For more information or to schedule your child’s next eye exam, please call (601) 475-2020.
