Do you have questions about myopia? Q&A with expert optician

[CeriMumsnet]

This Q&A is now closed. Thanks to everyone who shared a question on myopia for Charlotte, you can see the answers here.

Don't forget to sign up to attend Essilor's Class of Myopia event in Kensington on Friday 29 November to learn more!

We’re working with Essilor’s expert dispensing optician, Charlotte Timbury, to answer your questions about myopia (short-sightedness) in children. Whether you have questions about how myopia is detected, or you’d like some advice on how to manage your child’s myopia, Charlotte and Essilor are here to help.

• Post your questions on the thread below.
• Everyone who shares a question on the thread below by 12/11 will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 voucher
• Charlotte will be online in a few weeks to answer some of your questions.
• To learn more about short-sightedness in children, sign up here to attend Essilor’s ‘Class of Myopia’ event for families on 29 November.

About the expert
Charlotte Timbury FBDO qualified as a dispensing optician in 2002. With over twenty years’ experience in optics, she began her career in a highly successful, independent practice before joining Essilor in 2014. Here she has held various roles from business development manager to professional relations; a role with a primary focus on developing and delivering education and training to the industry as well as other support to various optical bodies. Charlotte is now the North Europe medical and professional affairs director for EssilorLuxottica, the manufacturers of Essilor® Stellest® lenses.

Here’s what Essilor® Stellest® lenses has to say:

“By 2025, myopia is predicted to impact half(1) of the World’s population and a
staggering one billion people are predicted to have high myopia. Higher degrees of myopia pose a greater risk of ocular complications that may lead to visual impairment or even blindness later in life. However, the earlier myopia is detected and managed in a child, the greater the chance progression can be slowed down with simple lifestyle changes and wearing a myopia control spectacle lens such as Essilor® Stellest® lenses.

A new survey(2) commissioned by Essilor® Stellest® lenses amongst 1,000 UK parents has also revealed gaps in knowledge around myopia in children, with 94% of parents of myopic children wrongly believing that wearing glasses will solve the problem.”

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ
Insight Terms and Conditions apply

References:

1. Source: Holden BA, Fricke TR, Wilson DA, et al. Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050. Ophthalmology. 2016;123(5):1036-1042.doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2016.01.006
2. International survey conducted by Ipsos in 6 countries on 6007 parents with at least one child aged from 5 to 17, from a representative sample of individuals aged from 25 to 60 in terms of age, gender, occupation, region. UK: 1000 interviews / Italy: 1001 interviews / France: 1000 interviews / Brazil: 1001 interviews / India: 1005 interviews / China: 1000 interviews. Online interviews from June 24th to July 15th 2024

Do you see a tsunami of this with the impact of phones and gaming on children's lifes ?

I am short sighted with an astigmatism mu DC's don't appear to be short sighted yet - but I did not need glassed until I was 12 - with lifestyles being very different nowadays - more screen time being the main factor, would you expect eyes to deteriorate earlier because of this ?

If a child only has a slight prescription would you say there are benefits to holding off in attempting to correct this by lenses because as a glasses wearer myself since wearing glasses my prescription has only got worse and worse?

Will the eyesight be impacted if the glasses are not perfectly aligned on the face? In case the person has a slightly asymmetrical face?

Depending on the prescription, if it's slight I'd only want glasses until then started school - just because I would feel it would inhibit play - what are your thoughts ?

My son is 7, he's short sighted was picked up because he's also moderately deaf so had eye tests. I believe 1 in 5 children are short sighted now, his prescription hasn't changed yet in 3 years but they blame tablet use.

If I am 50 and have astigmatism and a prescription of -7, will I ever be able to have any intervention that will mean no glasses?

Every 5 years or so I try toric contact lenses - and spend the next few hours wanting to tear my eyes out.

I know laser is a no go at this level of myopia but what about lens replacement?

Are there any non prescription glasses, which can be worn when gaming, using a tablet, which can be worn to help relive the strain on eyes for children ? I know blue lens glasses help me at work - but they are bifocal prescription as I am both long and short sighted working

My son is 17 with a prescription of -9. Every year it just keeps increasing. He is part of a myopia study using contact lenses and atropine 1% drops to slow the myopia. I worry about his eye health when he’s older. Is there anything else we should be doing…

If someone has always been shortsighted (since age 6/7) and was -7.00 with an astigmatism for past 10 years - what would cause one sue to improve significantly post age 50?

My Son wears glasses for myopia, can he take them off if not doing concentration tasks? Are contact lens an option.

If both parents are short sighted what are the chances of children being so as well?

Can it be cured?
I had glassed when younger but don't wear them anymore.
Just curious!

At what age can myopia be detected. My 8 month old seems to have trouble recognising things across the room eg a familiar person, but when they come closer he lights up. It's similar with the tv he won't pay attention to it unless he's very close to it

My daughter has specialist myopia lenses, could she wear contacts or not due to the myopia lenses which are aiming to stop/ reduce the increase in prescription? I believe the myopia to be heritary from her Dad

My prescription is about -8 in both eyes and I have the early stages of cataracts in both eyes, due to age. I am wondering, when the time comes, how to choose the replacement lenses. What are the options and what in your experience works well for people like me?

What’s the best approach for a child (aged 11) just diagnosed with myopia? She’s been given glasses for long distance when she needs them such as the board in school, is there anything else we should be doing?

If a child has milf myopia, can wearing glasses too much make it worse or cause other eye/sight issues?

Is there anything that we can do to prevent myopia developing or even to just have good eye health?

My daughter has just been prescribed glasses for myopia. We couldn't afford the special myopia lenses so we went with standard ones, but I've since read that they can accelerate the progression of the condition. I'm afraid to use them now as she only has a mild prescription and manages fine in most situations. What would you recommend?

My 11 year old has Stellest lenses, but will only wear his glasses in lessons and for watching TV at home. His optician says he needs to wear them all the time. Presumably this would be better, but is there any harm in not?

My optician recommended these but then my partner and I dug into the study's and they were not done on statistical valid sample sizes. Also my son only wears glasses at school so not 12 hours a day which would mean they are also not worth the investment and even though the data on those studies are also on small samples.

Before you invest please scroll to the small print and legal disclaimer at the bottom of the web page.

For medical purposes I usually consider 400 a good sample these studies are of about 100 kids. Also I think in Asia where from a short stint in optometry I picked up that there is some variance in eye shape to Europeans which increase astigmatism.

Legal disclaimer which shows the data behind their claims....the report links don't work on their site for some reason to go to the medical studies 🧐

	1. Two-year prospective, controlled, randomized, double-masked clinical trial results on 54 myopic children wearing Stellest® lenses compared to 50 myopic children wearing single vision lenses. Results based on 32 children who declared wearing Stellest® lenses at least 12 hours per day every day. Bao, J. et al. (2021). One-year myopia control efficacy of spectacle lenses with aspherical lenslets. Br. J. Ophthalmol. doi:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-318367.
	2. Compared to single vision lenses, when worn by children at least 12 hours per day every day. Bao, J., Huang, Y., Li, X., Yang, A., Zhou, F., Wu, J., Wang, C., Li, Y., Lim, E.W., Spiegel, D.P., Drobe, B., Chen, H., 2022. Spectacle Lenses With Aspherical Lenslets for Myopia Control vs Single-Vision Spectacle Lenses: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Ophthalmol. 140(5), 472&ndash;478. <a class="break-all" href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2022.0401." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">doi.org/10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2022.0401.</a>
	3. Compared to single vision lenses, when worn by children at least 12 hours per day every day. Bao, J., Huang, Y., Li, X., Yang, A., Zhou, F., Wu, J., Wang, C., Li, Y., Lim, E.W., Spiegel, D.P., Drobe, B., Chen, H., 2022. Spectacle Lenses With Aspherical Lenslets for Myopia Control vs Single-Vision Spectacle Lenses: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Ophthalmol. 140(5), 472&ndash;478. <a class="break-all" href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2022.0401." rel="nofollow" target="_blank">doi.org/10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2022.0401.</a>
	4. Two-year prospective, controlled, randomized, double-masked clinical trial results on 54 myopic children wearing Stellest&reg; lenses compared to 50 myopic children wearing single vision lenses. Results based on 32 children who declared wearing Stellest&reg; lenses at least 12 hours per day every day. Eye growth of non-myopic children based on 700 datapoints of schoolchildren enrolled in the Wenzhou Medical University-Essilor Progression and Onset of Myopia (WEPrOM) prospective cohort study. Stable correction need defined as a spherical equivalent refraction change on both eyes strictly lower than 0.50D. Bao, J. et al. (2021). One-year myopia control efficacy of spectacle lenses with aspherical lenslets. Br. J. Ophthalmol. doi:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2020-318367. Drobe B. et al. (2020). Adaptation and visual comfort in children with new spectacle lenses containing concentric rings of contiguous aspherical micro-lenses for myopia control. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 61(7): 94.
	5. Dhakal R, et al. Time spent outdoors as an intervention for myopia prevention and control in children: an overview of systematic reviews. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2022 May;42(3):545-558.
	6. Jonas JB, et al. IMI prevention of myopia and its progression. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2021;62(5):6.
	7. Guan H, et al. Impact of various types of near work and time spent outdoors at different times of day on visual acuity and refractive error among Chinese school-going children. PLoS One. 2019;14(4):e0215827.
	8. Huang HM, et al. The association between near work activities and myopia in children&mdash;a systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS one. 2015;10(10):e0140419.
	9. Lakkis C, Weidemann K. Evaluation of the performance of photochromic spectacle lenses in children and adolescents aged 10 to 15 years. Clinical and Experimental Optometry. 2006;89(4):246-52.
	10. Shapiro S, et al. The Unmet Challenge of Diagnosing and Treating Photophobia in Children. Neurology. 2023;2-9.010. <a class="break-all" href="https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000203250" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000203250</a> .
	11. Behar-Cohen F, et al. Ultraviolet damage to the eye revisited: eye-sun protection factor (E-SPF&reg;), a new ultraviolet protection label for eyewear. Clinical Ophthalmology. 2013:87-104.

What is your opinion on the special myopia lenses for children? Is the benefit worth the cost? I'm sceptical about the benefit as they're not available on the NHS yet don't want DD's sight to get worse if we can help it.

When should you take your child for their first eye test, if there's a history of myopia in the family?