Glasses to reduce progression of myopia

[snowgirl1]

DD (11 yrs old) went to the opticians last week. Her short-sightedness has got worse in the last year (from -1 to -1.5). The optician (a big chain optician) is recommending a lens which can help reduce the rate at which DD's eyesight will get worse. Has anyone done this? Any feedback?

The lens costs c.£220 and the optician says the edges can be blurry. I'm a bit concerned that I could shell out for these lenses and DD says she can't cope with the blurry edges. I also don't know if the lens will really make that much difference and it's just the chain optician trying to upsell.

Any feedback from anyone who's tried the lenses (or opticians!) would be much appreciated!

My son had his 6 month check today and his eye sight has finally stabilised, one eye has even got 1 point stronger. I know that doesn't sound like much, but his eye sight was deteriorating quickly with a new prescription needed every 6 months. I know it's expensive, but I can honestly say it is worth it. The relief we felt hearing the news today was worth every penny.

Delighted these seem to work so well for many. They don’t seem to be working for my DD sadly and I’m a bit pissed off that our optician is so blithe about it! Obviously we don’t know how much DD’s prescription would have increased WITHOUT the miyosmart glasses but her prescription has just gone up from -3.50 to -4.25 in the last 12 months (the previous 12 months there was a smaller jump from -3 to -3.50) She is 11 and wears the glasses ALL DAY so we are following instructions!

anyone have any advice about what to do?! The optician admitted it was a larger rise in prescription than she’d expect but when I politely said we’d been told they’d cover the cost of new lenses if the prescription rose, she fudged it and wiggled out of the conversation 😡

As instructed we try to get DD to spend enough outside time but it’s really hard in the darker colder months. In the summer I make sure she has at least 2-3 hours outside every day. We limit her iPad use but she’s a HUGE reader and loves to write/do needlework which are all close-sight activities 😩

shes had a massive growth spurt in the last 4 months which probably hadn’t helped.

but the glasses are SO expensive and I’m so disappointed and desperate to stop her progression going so fast. Optician just said oh well you don’t know how much worse it would have been without the miyosmart glasses!!

do I need a better optician?!

I would have loved these. I got my glasses in the last year of primary school. I’m now -8,5 and my sight has continued to deteriorate even though I’m 50 now each time I go. As well I’m also +2.0 now. and have an astigmatism. Glasses now cost a fortune each year as I always need new lenses due to prescription changes + now varifocals and the thinning as otherwise they would be so thick. I would definitely try them!

@ShadesOfPemberley my niece's eyes worsened over the first six months and I was shocked as my own dd's eyes have stayed completely the same for the last three years since she's had these lenses.

The optician also offered free replacement glasses if they were needed, but my niece actually got them (it may have just been the lenses, but even so...). I would push for this, because that is one of the things that makes the risk of the cost worth it.

I do agree that you don't know how much her eyes would have deteriorated without the glasses, and my niece has also just had a growth spurt, hopefully next time she goes back her eyes will be the same... Her mum is VERY short sighted, so it is very much worth it to slow down her progression, even if it doesn't stop it.

Reading these messages I have decided I am definitely going to get these lenses for my son who is 14. Our opticians are charging £320 for the lenses. I was wondering how this compares to other people’s experiences? I think at the start of the thread £220 was mentioned.

I just realised OP that you are talking about glasses lenses. I have no experience of those, but my son has had Ortho K contact lenses since he was 13, now 26 and his prescription hasn't changed in all that time. He wears the lenses at night and then nothing during the day. When he was at school and playing a lot of sport this was a huge bonus. Yes they are not cheap but they are a game changer. As he has used them every day since he got them, we don't know what his prescription would settle at if he stopped but the optician is pretty confident it would be much better than without the lenses.
You say you went to a high street chain. Very few opticians are qualified to sell ortho K. Our is a contact lens specialist and we have been really happy with the care.

We pay £50 a month and get 2 sets of lenses a year and 10% off frames - that’s private

Specksavers are so much better value - lenses are around £300 but free ish frames

You must make sure they take measurements carefully as the small clear view section must be central to the eye. Make sure whoever fits the glasses is trained by Myiosmart

You need to remember that myopia happens due to 3 factors. The myopia control glasses only impact on one of those factors. So if your child’s myopia is caused by the other 2 factors this might explain why then haven’t had an impact.
There is the possibility that they aren’t fitted correctly as the measurements of the focus areas are very important.
In your position I would look at Ortho K but eventually go for laser surgery when they are old enough - I think it’s a gift and worth the expense

Hi I’m thinking of getting these for my 10 year old. Was there any specific opticians you went with or recommend. Visions express do Stellest. The one I hear most about is Miyosmart.

I work in optics . This isn’t upselling . There is research out there . The research on contact lenses has been done on older children for the obvious reasons . There is no research to back up any benefit to adults .

if I had a myopic child i would get them in a heart beat.

We went ahead with the glasses in august and my 14 year old got used to them almost immediately. I’m not sure what system our opticians use, but they are Broadhurst Optometrists. They are a local firm, based here in the Northwest. There were different levels of care, we didn’t pay for the most expensive which I think has more regular check ups and prescription updates. Obviously we won’t know if they’ve worked for him for a while yet, but fingers crossed. I’ll post when we know. There certainly seems to be a lot of positive results for kids. Maybe one day it’ll be available on the NHS, but for now…

We’ve had the Miyosmart glasses for 6 months and they’ve definitely slowed progression - had been a whopping 1.25 in 10 months and now not quite 0.25. It’s not much data to go on, though. I do think it’s been worth the effort. We’ve tried to increase outdoor time as well, which is a bit inconsistent but up overall.

Just wanted to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread. These lenses were recommended for DD13 yesterday and I agreed to all the measurements being taken etc. but did just want to go home and do a bit more reading before committing.

I'm -4.5 in each eye and mine got progressively worse until I was about 19/20. The optician said there is a growing trend for children to end up worse than their parents now and anything over 4 carries additional optical health risks in later life.

Definitely going to go for them and will try and report back.

My daughter’s prescription was shooting up 0.5 or 1 point every 6 months and was -8 sbd -8.75 by the time she was referred to Myopia management clinic by Specsavers. Shes been wearing the contact lenses for nearly 3 years now and hasn’t had any increase in prescription since. I too, wish she had had them earlier. She’s 16 now.
Yes, they’re expensive but nothing is more important than the health of my children.

My son had his eye test today after 11 months of wearing the lenses. His eyes have deteriorated and in the same amounts as previous years when he had standard lenses. The optician said that obviously we didn’t know how much of a difference there’d have been had he not worn them. He’s now 15 so at this age, perhaps his eyes would have deteriorated more than when he was younger. They just assumed we’d continue with the lenses in the next prescription. They actually seemed most interested in pushing us onto the monthly payment plan, rather than an upfront cost. This seemed to make them £130 better off! So I’m a bit annoyed. They also didn’t seem to measure too carefully where his eye would be. It wasn’t done by the optician but the sales team and just lent over with what looked like a ruler. Any advise from others welcome. I’m thinking of going to another optician. This is an independent local company so hoped they’d be the best choice. But our town (Lytham Lancashire) has many opticians to choose from.

I am sorry that you are having a disappointing experience with your opticians. We are going to the local Specsavers and have been very well treated there. My DS (9) started wearing MiYOSMART lenses about one year ago and one eye has deteriorated by -0.5 in the meantime while the other stayed stable. We've been back to Specsavers to adjust his glasses as they get bashed about and need to be reshaped so the small vision window in the middle of the lenses is correctly positioned. I know not all Specsavers branches are the same but ours (Stroud) seems excellent - based also on other users' reports. Worth knowing the findings of this New Scientist article - if you can't access it, ask AI to summarize it for you. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26435170-700-why-we-now-think-the-myopia-epidemic-can-be-slowed-or-even-reversed/.