Myopia Management

Progressive myopia, or nearsightedness, has many ocular health implications. If you or your child’s nearsightedness is high or increasing, there is greater risk for retinal detachments, glaucoma, and myopic retinal degeneration, along with having thicker glasses lens that causes peripheral distortion and makes things appear smaller than they actually are. There are several new treatments to slow down the progression of nearsightedness with use of specialized contact lenses, nightly eyedrops, and/or Ortho-K lenses, thus preventing ocular health issues in the future. For a consultation, please call the office to schedule an appointment and Dr. Mark will find the best treatment options for you.

Based on historical prevalence data, by 2050, 5 billion people (half the world’s population) will have myopia. At that time, we expect almost 1 billion high myopes over -6.00 diopters of myopia. It has doubled from 1970 to 2015 and is expected to become the leading cause of blindness worldwide (Holden 2016). This is likely going to increase the cost of care for myopic children significantly due to the increased risk of more serious ocular health issues.

Based on research, high myopes are more likely to develop serious ocular health issues, including:

7.8x increase in retinal pathology in myopes (Holden, 2015)

3.3x increase in cataracts (Yang, 2015)

14.4x increase in glaucoma for myopes (WHO White Paper Impact of Myopia and High Myopia, 2016)