Welcome to Professional VisionCare Myopia Control

Is your child complaining of blurry vision? Is their nearsightedness getting worse every year? Are you looking for a solution that involves more than just a new pair of thicker glasses? Look no further! Our eye doctors at Professional VisionCare Associates are ready to educate and help you make the best decision for your child's changing vision.

Are you ready to take on myopia?

MiSight daily disposable contact lenses for myopia management in kids.

Professional VisionCare Associates is now offering MiSight to our young patients!

MiSight 1 Day is the latest innovation in myopia control, and we are proud to add this option to our myopia management program. This is the first FDA approved soft contact lens clinically proven to slow nearsighted progression by 59%. Studies show that children as young as 8 years old have been successful at wearing and handling MiSight, and over 90% of kids prefer MiSight over their glasses. With the simplicity of wearing the lenses once and then disposing them, there are no hassles with cleaning or disinfecting, and the risk of eye infections is low. Contact us or make an appointment to see if your child can benefit from MiSight 1 Day!

What's New in Myopia Control

Here are some helpful articles to provide up-to-date information about various topics in controlling nearsightedness. Please check back often for updates!

Myopia Facts

What is it?

Myopia (or nearsightedness) is blurry vision at distance. Common complaints you may have heard from your child include, "I can't see the board at school" or "I can't see the TV." It results from a mismatch between the eye's focal power and the length of the eyeball. The focal power of the eye is too strong, and the eyeball is elongated, creating a blurry image on the retina. Near objects are often clear within a certain range.

Myopia is not just a problem of the eye’s focal power. Because the nearsighted eye is often abnormally elongated, myopia is frequently associated with eyesight threatening disease later in life. Research shows the prevalence of myopia among school age children is growing at an alarming rate. According to an article published by the World Health Organization, one out of every two people will be myopic by the year 2050. This means an increasing number of people are at risk for severe vision impairment in late adulthood.

What causes myopia?

Myopia is caused by a mixture of genetic and environmental factors, which lead to an elongation of the length of the eyeball (in millimeters). A child's risk of developing myopia increases if one or both parents are myopic. Other than genetics, too little exposure to outdoor light, excessive time doing near vision tasks, and eye posture and focusing ability all play a part in progressive myopia.

Click here to assess your child's risk of developing myopia.

Myopia increases the risk of eye disease including...

Cataracts

Cataracts tend to develop earlier in highly myopic eyes. Furthermore, when it comes time for cataract surgery, the risk of post operative complications is greater in highly myopic eyes.

Glaucoma

Cataracts

Myopic eyes are more elongated, creating an overall stretched out retina with greater propensity for mechanical and oxidative stress on the nerve fibers at the optic nerve. This can lead to glaucomatous damage, even with normal levels of eye pressure.

Myopic maculopathy

Retinal stretching at the macula from high myopia causes various degenerative changes which can lead to myopic maculopathy. This causes central vision impairment.

Retinal Detachment

Myopic maculopathy

Since the retina in highly myopic eyes is more stretched out, there is a higher risk of retinal thinning, holes and tears in the periphery. If left untreated, they can lead to retinal detachment.

The higher the myopia, the greater the risk of myopia-related eye disease.

Risk of pathology

The following table shows the relative risk of developing myopia-related eye disease compared to an emmetrope (i.e. someone who requires no prescription to see clearly at distance).

(Adopted from Flitcroft, 2012)

Although we cannot modify genetics, we can slow down (and in some cases stop) the progression of myopia by how we use our eyes, and what we prescribe to correct vision.

What can we prescribe to reduce myopia progression?

Inserting a soft contact lens in the eye.

MiSight® 1 day soft contact lenses

Corneal Refractive Therapy (Orthokeratology)

These soft contact lenses create optical blur outside the central retina, reducing the stimulus for eye elongation. MiSight® has been clinically proven to slow nearsighted progression. Learn more here.

Patient wearing orthokeratology rigid contact lens on eye for myopia control.

Corneal Refractive Therapy (Orthokeratology)

These rigid contact lenses gently reshape the front surface of the eye while you sleep. Learn more here.

Bifocal glasses or Progressive Addition Lenses (PAL)

The reading portion of the lens creates optical blur on half of the retina, reducing the stimulus for eye elongation. While this is not as effective as the other myopia management options, it still offers some slowing of myopia progression, and some myopia control is better than none.

Instilling atropine 0.01% drops in a child for myopia control.

Atropine 0.01% eye drops

Bifocal glasses or Progressive Addition Lenses (PAL)

These compounded pharmaceutical eye drops are prescribed for night time administration, and many studies have shown very good efficacy in slowing myopia progression. While the exact mechanism of action is not well understood, it is thought that atropine acts on specific receptors of the retina and sclera to slow elongation of the eye.

What else can I have my child do?

Spend more time outdoors

Research suggests that at least 1.5 hours of time spent outdoors daily can have a significant impact on slowing down myopia progression or delaying myopia onset. Children who have more exposure to natural bright light have been linked to a lower incidence of myopia and later age of myopia onset. Outdoor light intensity differs from that of indoor light intensity, and appears to be beneficial for proper eye growth. In addition to light, children who have more exposure to detailed visual stimuli in their environment (such as tree leaves in a natural setting) have lower risk of myopia development. Artificial indoor environments typically do not have the same level of detailed stimuli, and can contribute to myopic growth.

Our understanding of the benefits of outdoor time as it relates to myopia reduction continues to deepen, but the overall message is clear: environmental factors play an important role in slowing myopia progression and should not be overlooked.

Limit the amount of near work

Avoiding all near work is impossible, but limiting the amount of time spent in front of digital devices (especially when not associated with school work) may help slow down myopia progression. In addition, taking frequent breaks to look at distance objects during concentrated near work is beneficial as well.

Together we can determine the best treatment plan

To schedule an appointment, please give us a call during our business hours.

Professional VisionCare Associates

14607 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, California 91403, United States

(818) 789-3311

Hours

Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 5:30pm

Saturday: 8:00am - 4:00pm

Sunday: Closed

Welcome to Professional VisionCare Myopia Control

Welcome to Professional VisionCare Myopia Control

Are you ready to take on myopia?

Professional VisionCare Associates is now offering MiSight to our young patients!

What's New in Myopia Control

Myopia Facts

What is it?

What causes myopia?

Myopia increases the risk of eye disease including...

Cataracts

Cataracts

Cataracts

Glaucoma

Cataracts

Cataracts

Myopic maculopathy

Myopic maculopathy

Myopic maculopathy

Retinal Detachment

Myopic maculopathy

Myopic maculopathy

Risk of pathology

What can we prescribe to reduce myopia progression?

MiSight® 1 day soft contact lenses

Corneal Refractive Therapy (Orthokeratology)

Corneal Refractive Therapy (Orthokeratology)

Corneal Refractive Therapy (Orthokeratology)

Corneal Refractive Therapy (Orthokeratology)

Corneal Refractive Therapy (Orthokeratology)

Bifocal glasses or Progressive Addition Lenses (PAL)

Bifocal glasses or Progressive Addition Lenses (PAL)

Bifocal glasses or Progressive Addition Lenses (PAL)

Atropine 0.01% eye drops

Bifocal glasses or Progressive Addition Lenses (PAL)

Bifocal glasses or Progressive Addition Lenses (PAL)

What else can I have my child do?

Spend more time outdoors

Limit the amount of near work

Together we can determine the best treatment plan

Professional VisionCare Associates

Hours

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Links to resources

Myopia control

Corneal Refractive Therapy

Environmental effects on myopia