Myopia management for children
Every optometrist can give a short-sighted child a stronger prescription each year. Myopia management is the attempt to make next year’s prescription not need to be stronger.
Why it matters beyond the glasses
Short-sightedness in children is not simply a focusing inconvenience that glasses fix. As myopia progresses, the eye physically elongates — and a longer eye carries a higher lifetime risk of several serious conditions, including retinal detachment, glaucoma and myopic maculopathy.
The higher a child’s myopia becomes, the greater that risk. Which means slowing its progression during childhood is not about spectacle thickness. It is about the eye that child will have at sixty.
What we offer
Specialised spectacle lenses
We fit all three of the leading myopia control lens ranges: Essilor Stellest, Zeiss MyoCare and Hoya MiYOSMART.
These look like ordinary glasses and are worn like ordinary glasses. They correct vision normally through the centre while the surrounding lens is engineered to change how light focuses in the periphery of the retina — the signal that appears to drive elongation of the eye.
For most children this is the simplest place to start: no handling, no routine, nothing to learn.
Carrying all three matters. They work in different ways and suit different children, so the choice can be made on what fits your child rather than on what happens to be in the cabinet.
MiSight daily contact lenses
We fit CooperVision MiSight 1 day — a daily disposable soft contact lens designed specifically for myopia control in children.
A fresh lens each morning, nothing to clean, nothing to store. Many children manage them from a younger age than parents expect, and for a child who plays sport the freedom from glasses is often the deciding factor.
Contact lens fitting is $100 and includes follow-up appointments.
What myopia management is not
It is not a cure, and it will not reverse short-sightedness that has already developed. Your child will still need correction.
The goal is a smaller number at eighteen than there would otherwise have been. That is a worthwhile goal, but it is a different one from “fixing” myopia.
Results also vary between children. We monitor progression at each visit and adjust the approach.
What the appointments involve
A comprehensive eye test — 30 minutes, bulk billed, and free for under 25s usually including OCT and widefield retinal imaging.
If myopia management is appropriate we will talk through the options, what each involves day to day, and what it costs, before you decide anything.
Progression is then tracked at regular reviews, comparing measurements directly against previous visits rather than relying on impression.
When to start
Sooner rather than later. Myopia tends to progress fastest in younger children, so the window where management makes the most difference is early — and it is not recoverable once passed.
If your child has recently been prescribed glasses for distance, or their prescription has increased at consecutive visits, it is worth a conversation now.
Book an appointment
Book online at any time, or call (07) 3278 8300.
We are at Shop 15, 235 Forest Lake Boulevard, inside Forest Lake Shopping Centre. Thursday evenings until 7pm and Saturdays until 4:30pm suit school hours.