The myopia message is not getting through. It is time for the industry to speak with one voice
New research from Boots Opticians has once again exposed a worrying gap in parents’ understanding of childhood myopia.
The findings are valuable, but unfortunately they are not surprising. They closely echo the results of our own Myopia Focus parental awareness research in 2024. Two years on, parents may be hearing more about screen time and children’s eye health, but the central message about myopia, its progression and the options available to manage it is still not reaching enough families.
That should prompt some honest reflection across the eye care industry.
There is no shortage of excellent clinical research, new myopia management products, professional education or committed practitioners. Independent practices have been championing myopia management for years and many deliver exceptional care. Nationwide providers are now also investing in services, treatments and platforms designed to support myopia management.
Yet public understanding remains stubbornly low. If we want to change that, we need to do more than communicate more often. We need to communicate more clearly, more consistently and, crucially, together.
What did the Boots research find?
The Boots Opticians study surveyed 2,000 UK parents and found that just 29% regularly think about their child’s eyesight. By comparison, 59% frequently consider how long their child spends using screens.
Eyesight also ranked below several other parental concerns. Healthy eating and mental wellbeing were each regularly considered by 57% of parents. Almost three quarters, 74%, prioritised regular dental appointments, while fewer than half, 49%, prioritised routine eye examinations.
The issue is not simply that eye examinations are being overlooked. The research also identified significant misconceptions about myopia:
There was also evidence that children’s eye care is often approached reactively. One in nine parents, 11%, said they only take their child to an optician when the child complains about a problem, while 14% believed children do not need an eye examination if they are not experiencing symptoms.
This matters because children may not recognise that their vision is blurred or may assume that everybody sees as they do. Waiting for a child to report a problem risks delaying identification.
However, one finding offers real encouragement. Once parents were told that myopia management lenses may help slow progression, 71% said they would consider them. The willingness to act is there. The knowledge often is not.
The same gap was visible in 2024
The latest Boots findings closely reflect the pattern identified in the Myopia Focus 2024 Survey Report on UK Parental Awareness and Attitudes.
Our survey found that 97% of parents were familiar with the terms short-sightedness or near-sightedness, but 35% had not heard the term myopia before taking part. More importantly, familiarity with short-sightedness did not necessarily translate into an understanding of myopia as a progressive condition or awareness of the options available to manage it.
Among the key findings:
92% had not encountered myopia in news or press coverage.
81% were unaware of myopia management.
70% of parents with myopic children had not heard of myopia management.
58% of parents with myopic children said they had not been given any specific advice about managing it.
82% were unaware that treatments were available to help reduce the risk of myopia progression.
Again, information changed attitudes. After parents were shown information about the longer-term eye health risks associated with myopia, 68% of those with myopic children became more concerned. Following an explanation of those risks, 65% of parents said they were more likely to consider myopia management and a further 28% said they were much more likely to do so.
The conclusion from both studies is remarkably consistent: parents are not uninterested in their children’s eyesight and they are not necessarily resistant to myopia management. Many simply do not know there is more to know.
We need to change the idea that glasses have “solved” myopia
For generations, the public understanding of short-sightedness has been straightforward: a child cannot see the board, they visit an optician and they are given glasses. Once the child can see clearly, the problem appears to have been solved.
That is one of the biggest communication barriers facing myopia management.
Ordinary single-vision glasses correct blurred vision, but they do not slow the underlying progression of myopia. Parents need to understand the difference between correcting vision and managing progression. They also need to know why progression matters, what management options may be available and why earlier conversations can be important.
This must be communicated carefully. The aim should not be to frighten parents or imply that every myopic child will experience serious eye disease. It should be to explain, in balanced and accessible language, that increasing levels of myopia are associated with greater lifetime eye health risks and that evidence-based options are available which may help slow progression.
At present, that message is too often fragmented. We use different terminology, lead with different statistics, promote individual products and give parents varying amounts of information depending on where they happen to have their child’s eyes examined.
The result is noise rather than clarity.
What can we learn from Smartphone Free Childhood?
The eye care industry should look at the way Smartphone Free Childhood has turned concerns about childhood smartphone and social media use into a recognisable public movement.
Its success has not come simply from publishing more evidence about potential harms. It has established a clear idea that parents can understand, discuss and act upon. It has created a Parent Pact, built local and school-based communities, provided shareable resources and given families the confidence to act together rather than feeling they must make difficult decisions alone.
According to the campaign, more than 180,000 Parent Pacts have been signed and its online communities now include hundreds of thousands of people. Whatever view someone takes on the detail of the smartphone debate, the communications lesson is powerful: a clear message, repeated consistently and supported by collective action, can shift a subject from specialist concern into mainstream public conversation.
Myopia needs a similarly coordinated approach.
This does not mean oversimplifying the science or pretending that every provider offers the same service. It means agreeing on the small number of things every parent should understand.
For example:
Myopia is more than blurred distance vision and can progress as a child grows.
Ordinary single-vision glasses help a child see clearly, but do not slow myopia progression.
Evidence-based myopia management options are available which may help slow progression.
Children should have regular eye examinations, even if they have not complained about their vision.
Parents of a myopic child should be encouraged to ask their eye care professional about progression, monitoring and management options.
These messages are not owned by a manufacturer, provider or professional body. They should belong to the whole sector.
What working together could look like
We believe there is an opportunity for manufacturers, independent practices, nationwide providers, professional and membership bodies, researchers, charities, schools and parent-facing organisations to support a coordinated myopia awareness campaign.
That could include:
A shared set of simple, evidence-based public messages and agreed terminology.
A coordinated annual awareness period in which the whole sector amplifies the same core information.
Parent-friendly materials that can be used consistently across practices, schools, websites, social media and community groups.
A standard expectation that every parent of a myopic child receives a clear explanation of progression and the available management options, whether or not the practice itself provides those treatments.
Clear pathways helping parents find an appropriately qualified practitioner or source of further independent information.
Ongoing public research using consistent questions, so we can measure whether awareness is actually improving rather than simply counting campaign impressions.
Myopia Focus is well placed to support this work. As an independent, parent-facing campaign, it can provide a neutral platform through which different parts of the industry contribute to a shared objective. We already bring together information, interactive tools, practitioner listings, research and resources designed to help families understand myopia and take the next step.
But no single campaign or organisation can solve the awareness problem alone.
The reach of nationwide providers matters
Independent practices have long led the development and delivery of myopia management in the UK. Their expertise, commitment and ability to provide highly personalised care have created enormous value for children and families.
The growing involvement of nationwide high-street providers should complement that work. Organisations such as Boots can reach millions of parents who may never search for the phrase “myopia management” or encounter a specialist independent practice. It is encouraging to see Boots promoting myopia management treatments and supporting its service through tools such as Ocumetra’s mEYE Suite, which can help practitioners explain progression and treatment in a clearer, more visual way.
We would like to see more of this, across more providers and supported by a wider, coordinated public awareness effort.
This should not become a contest over which organisation owns the myopia message. The real competition is with public indifference, misunderstanding and the deeply established belief that short-sightedness is completely solved by putting on a pair of glasses.
A call for one clear voice
The Boots research is important because it gives the industry another large and timely set of evidence. It shows that parents think far more often about screen time than eyesight, that routine eye examinations are not prioritised in the same way as dental appointments and that basic misconceptions about myopia remain commonplace.
Our own research identified the same underlying problem in 2024. We should not still be identifying the same awareness gap in another two years without having made a serious attempt to address it together.
The knowledge, treatments, clinical expertise and communication channels already exist. What is missing is alignment.
It is time for the eye care industry to agree what parents need to know, express it in language they understand and repeat it consistently wherever families encounter information about children’s health.
Myopia is more than blurred vision. Correcting sight is not the same as managing progression. Parents have options, but they cannot consider options they have never been told about.
That is the message we need to deliver, together.
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