Myopia Control

Myopia Control at Visique Botany

At Visique Botany, we care about your eye health.

What is myopia?
Myopia, more commonly known as short-sightedness, is a very common eye condition where objects need to be brought in closer for them to be seen clearly.

The alarming increase of myopia is a growing concern all over the world, with onset being predominantly in the younger population. Those who start being short-sighted as children are more likely to have their myopia progress, and it will usually continue to progress until they reach the ages of 18-25.

Why is myopia a concern?
Being short-sighted isn’t just about the burden of wearing spectacles or contact lenses – with the progression of short-sightedness, the length of the eye can grow longer than its inner components can tolerate. This leads to an increased risk of blinding eye conditions such as retinal detachments, macular maculopathy and choroidal retinoschisis.

Therefore it is especially important for those with high myopia to attend the regular comprehensive eye health examinations that we offer.

What increases the risk and/or progression of myopia?

• Genetics – children with myopic parents are more likely to develop myopia.
• Lack of outdoor activity – studies show that lack of outdoor activity regardless of the amount of indoor activity is a big driving factor towards the onset of myopia.
• Ethnicity – there appears to be a higher prevalence of myopia in Asian children.
• Eye alignment – young eyes that tend to converge too much at near are more likely to develop myopia.

What can Visique Botany do to help control my child’s myopia?

At Visique Botany, we have 4 options for our patients to control myopia:

1. Orthokeratology Contact Lenses
   ·  A rigid, gas permeable contact lens worn during night time when sleeping.
   ·  These contact lenses mould the shape of the cornea during sleep to change the power of the eye, giving clear vision during the day (no glasses or contact lenses during the day!).
   ·  This is our most popular option at Visique Botany.
   
   
2. Atropine Eye Drops
   ·  Eye drops instilled before sleeping that, with our current understanding, signal the back of the eye to stop growing excessively.
   ·  Atropine must be used in combination with some form of vision correction.
   
   
3. Myopia Control Spectacle Lenses
   ·  Myopia control spectacles must be worn every day for the intervention to be effective.
   ·  Myopia control spectacles can control myopia by steepening the retinal image shell to signal the back of the eye to stop growing excessively.
   ·  Myopia control spectacles can also have a ‘relaxation zone’ at the bottom of the lens to help the eye muscles to relax when doing near work.
   ·  At Visique Botany, we have three different myopia control lenses:
   A)    Carl Zeiss Myovision
   B)    Essilor Myopilux Max
   C)    Essilor Myopilux Pro
   
   
4. Combination Treatment
   Patients may also choose to combine two different interventions for more effective myopia control:
   ·  Atropine + Ortho K
   ·  Atropine + Myovision/ Myopilux

Please feel free to call us on 09 274 9839 to speak with one of our lovely staff for more information.