Myopia is a common condition that develops early in childhood and can impact your life through adulthood. The best way to deal with myopia early is through myopia management. It is a strategy to slow the condition's progression using different protocols. Two successful ways to manage myopia are through atropine and MiSight® contact lenses. Early diagnosis of the illness is crucial before it begins to progress. Not treating it early predisposes your child to much more complex and severe visual conditions later in life. 

What is Myopia?

Myopia is a condition that affects how your eye works, especially with perceiving things far away. The condition usually develops when your eyeball begins to take an abnormal shape. Usually, the eyeball is almost spherical, except for the bulge of the cornea; in myopia, the entire eyeball elongates and bulges outwards. 

Myopia Management

Myopia management, as mentioned earlier, is a way to get the condition under control. Once myopia develops in a child, it keeps progressing as they age. The progression of the disease continues until the vision of the child stabilizes, usually at 18 years old. However, it can also keep progressing into adulthood in some exceptional cases. 

Management is crucial if your child has a high-level type of myopia. The purpose is to slow the progression until the vision stabilizes. 

How Does Atropine Work?

Atropine eye drops are a medication that eye doctors can use to slow the condition's progression. The eye drops slow down the rapid visual deterioration common in myopia patients. 

What is Atropine?

Atropine as a medication has many uses in eye health. For instance, the eye doctor may use it to dilate your pupils to observe your internal eye structures better. They are also used to treat other conditions like uveitis. They usually work by causing your eye muscles to relax. 

Atropine and Myopia

How atropine works on myopia is not well understood, but the effects are undeniable. Because it is a nonselective blocker, it influences receptors in the sclera and the retina. Eye doctors suspect that the drops prevent the thinning of the sclera or its stretching, both of which are common in myopia. By doing this, atropine eye drops slow the growth and elongation of the eyeball.

How Do MiSight Contacts Work?

MiSight contact lenses are one-day lenses that can help manage myopia in children. They are designed explicitly for myopia management.

MiSight and Myopia

Contact lenses are the only soft lenses approved by the FDA for myopia management. They are similar to multifocal lenses because they provide varying light refractions at different powers on the same lens. They accomplish this using ActivControl Technology that not only corrects vision but also slows progression.

For more on a guide to myopia management using atropine and MiSight contact lenses, visit Eyes on Butterfield at our office in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois. Call (630) 519-6060 to book an appointment today.