High myopia in my 3.5 yr old

[unitedstatesmama]

Hello everyone - I was reading a thread from 2016 on this general topic, however, since a number of years have gone by I thought I'd start a new thread. My daughter was recently prescribed glasses and I'm not terribly concerned about the aesthetics of the situation (her family is quite bespectacled and she looks very cute in them). My concern lies in the fact that the prescription in her right eye is very high (-6.5) and I've read horror stories about rapid progression (prescription in the left eye is -2.5). We just had a VEP-ERG test done (no results yet) but I was wondering if anyone had helpful/hopeful stories to share?

It would be worth speaking to your eye professionals about myopia control. If suitable, these are contact and spectacle lenses that can help slow down the progression of myopia. This is important as the higher the degree of myopia, the higher the risk of future retinal and visual problems in later life.
The current recommendations for myopic kids that you could implement now, are spending at least two hours outside every day, and when looking at books and screens, always holding them more than thirty centimetres away, as well as wearing the specs full time.

Thank you so much for your message; we have been making sure that she gets outside for a decent length of time every day and making sure that we don't read or watch screens in dim lighting. We will continue to do this and make sure she doesn't get too close to the iPad or books.

My 8 year old son has myopia of -2.5, it rapidly progressed from -0.5 and like you we were concerned about the rate it was changing. He is now wearing these incredible myopia glasses, which have literally halted the progression over the last 12 months. Definitely investigate with your optician.

Thank you for your message! Are they MiSight glasses?

MiSight are contact lenses. I doubt you'd get anyone to prescribe contacts for a 3 year old.

The spectacle lenses for myopia control I know of are zeiss Myovision pro and essilor stellest. I don't know how much they'd cost but it's unlikely they'd be covered by the NHS.

Not as high but my vision reached -4.5 in mid primary school quite suddenly. I’m now in my 40s with the same prescription (which confuses the opticians!).

My prescription is - 4.50 and has stayed the same for 30 years.

MiSight now do glasses as well as contact lenses. My son is just waiting for his to come in at the opticians. The lenses were just over £300.

My eldest eyesight has deteriorated rapidly and he now has the MiSight lenses. Have heard some positive experiences about them so I’m hopeful they’ll make a difference and be worth the money.

Thank you for the clarification...I'm new to all of this :)

Not quite as young but I started wearing glasses at 6 with - 6 in both eyes. They did get worse each year for a good few years then slowed down and I'm now about - 11 and - 10 (in my late 30s!). They still fluctuate every so often but not by very much.

My DD started wearing glasses at 2.5 and was - 2.5 in each eye. She's now nearly 6 and is 'only' - 4 and - 3.5 so although they are obviously getting worse, they're not as bad as mine were at the same age.

She is very active and we have always tried to get outside for at least an hour every day in the winter and more in the spring/summer/autumn so I'm hoping this helps and will continue to do.

It's encouraging to hear that relatively high prescriptions have remained stable over decades. Willyoujustbequiet: at what age did you begin wearing glasses?

Just checked and actually only - 3 in one eye so only increased by 0.5 in 3.5 years! 😯

And I know on the scale of 'high myopia', mine could be a lot worse, but I've always been complimented on my otherwise healthy eyes(!), no issues as of yet, though obviously the risk of eg retinal detachment is higher.

I started wearing glasses aged 2 (when health visitor realised my sight was not good), think prescription was about -5. 35 years later prescription is -5.75. (Astigmatism too both eyes). Contact lenses completely correct it.

That is SO great to hear!