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Frequently Asked Questions about Myopia Management

If your child has myopia, also known as near-sightedness or short-sightedness, you may have many questions about their vision and eye health. You may also wonder if there is anything you can do to prevent or slow down the progression of their myopia and reduce the risk of developing eye diseases in the future.  Myopia management is a treatment program that aims to do just that. It involves using various interventions, such as special contact lenses, eye drops, or outdoor time, to influence the factors that affect eye growth and refractive error. Myopia management has been shown to be effective in reducing the rate of myopia progression by up to 80 percent compared to conventional optical correction. But what exactly is myopia management and how does it work? What are the benefits and risks of each option? How can you decide if it is right for your child? And what can you expect from the treatment process? On this page, you will find short answers to some of the most  frequently asked questions about myopia and myopia management for children.

  • 20/20/2 rule
    For every 20 minutes of close work your child does, ask them to take a 20-second break looking into the distance and make sure your child spends at least 2 hours per day outside.
  • Axial Length
    The distance from the front surface of the cornea to the back surface of the eye, known as the retina. It is an important factor in myopia progression.
  • Axial Myopia
    This occurs when the optical system is correctly powered but the eyeball has increased in length, increasing the focal length and causing light to be focused in front of the retina.
  • Atropine Eyedrops
    A medication used to dilate the pupils and temporarily paralyze the eye's focusing mechanism, prescribed for myopia control, cycloplegic refraction, and certain inflammatory eye conditions.
  • Cataracts
    Cataracts refer to the clouding of the eye's natural lens, leading to blurred or impaired vision, often associated with aging, certain medical conditions, or trauma.
  • Cornea
    The clear, dome-shaped front surface of the eye that covers the iris and the pupil. It plays a vital role in focusing light onto the retina.
  • Diopter
    A unit of measurement used to quantify the strength of a lens or the degree of refractive error in the eye. It indicates how much the eye needs to focus light to see clearly.
  • Glaucoma
    A group of eye conditions characterized by increased intraocular pressure, which can damage the optic nerve and cause gradual loss of peripheral vision and, if left untreated, lead to blindness.
  • Hyperopic defocus blur
    Is the action of deliberately inducing out-of-focus images on the peripheral retina while maintaining clear vision on the central retina.
  • Myopic Maculopathy
    A condition associated with severe myopia that involves degenerative changes in the macula, the central part of the retina responsible for detailed vision, which can result in vision loss or distortion.
  • Myopia
    Also known as short-sightedness, myopia is a refractive error of the eye that causes distant objects to appear blurry, while close objects can be seen clearly.
  • Optic Nerve
    A bundle of nerve fibres that carries visual information from the retina to the brain, allowing us to perceive and interpret what we see.
  • Orthokeratology (Ortho-K)
    A non-surgical method of correcting myopia by using specially designed rigid gas permeable contact lenses to reshape the cornea over time while you sleep.
  • Presbyopia
    An age-related condition characterized by the loss of the eye's ability to focus on close objects due to the natural aging process of the lens.
  • Retinal Detachment
    Retinal detachment occurs when the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye, becomes separated from its underlying tissues, leading to a sudden or gradual loss of vision, which may require immediate medical attention.
  • Refractive Myopia
    This occurs when either one or more of the optical surfaces becoming too steep and/or where the refractive index of the optical media is too high.
  • Red Light Therapy
    An emerging myopia control approach that utilises specific wavelengths of red light to potentially slow down the progression of myopia.
  • Retina
    The light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye that receives and processes visual information, converting it into electrical signals sent to the brain via the optic nerve.
  • Refractive Error
    A condition in which the eye does not bend or focus light properly, resulting in blurred vision. Myopia is one type of refractive error.
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