Myopia, also called nearsightedness, makes far-away objects look blurry while close-up ones stay clear. It often starts in childhood and can get worse each year as your child grows. So it’s no surprise that many parents want to know if there’s a way to fix it for good.
Myopia can’t be cured, since the change in the eye’s shape is permanent, but treatment can correct your child’s vision and may slow how quickly it progresses. A myopia control plan, paired with regular kids’ eye exams, can help protect your child’s sight as they grow.
What Myopia Means for Your Child’s Vision
Your child’s eyeball may grow a little too long from front to back. When that happens, light focuses just in front of the retina instead of directly on it, and distant objects start to look blurry. That’s why your child might read a chapter book with no trouble and still struggle to see the whiteboard from the back row.
Myopia usually develops in school-age kids while their eyes are still growing. Family history plays a part too, and kids with nearsighted parents are more likely to develop it. If you or your partner wear glasses for distance, mention it at your child’s next visit.
Signs to Watch For
Kids don’t always tell you when something looks off. Watch for a few of these signs at home:
- Squinting at the TV or whiteboard
- Headaches after school
- Rubbing their eyes often
- Sitting close to the TV
- Holding a tablet or phone near their face
Teachers can notice changes too. If you hear that your child is having trouble copying notes from the board, book an eye exam.
Why Myopia Can’t Be Cured
Once the eye grows longer, it keeps that length for life. Glasses and contact lenses correct your child’s vision by bending light so it lands on the retina, but the eye underneath stays the same.
Myopia control works in a different way. These treatments can slow how fast the eye keeps growing, which may help keep your child’s prescription lower over time.
Can LASIK Cure Myopia?
Plenty of parents ask about laser surgery once they learn glasses won’t reverse myopia. LASIK reshapes the cornea, the clear front surface of the eye, so light focuses correctly. It can correct vision in a similar way to glasses. And like glasses, it doesn’t change the length of the eye, so the myopia is still there.
LASIK also isn’t an option for kids. Surgeons usually want a patient’s prescription to stay stable before they’ll consider it, which often doesn’t happen until adulthood. Adults who’ve had LASIK should still book regular eye exams so their optometrist can check the health of the retina.
Why Slowing Myopia Progression Matters
As the eye stretches longer, the retina at the back gets thinner. Over the years, higher myopia can raise the risk of eye problems in adulthood, including retinal detachment and glaucoma.
For most kids, myopia settles down in the late teens or early 20s once the eyes finish growing. Until then, their prescription can keep climbing. Start treatment early, ideally before age 16, and you’ll give your child more time to benefit from it.
Myopia Control Options for Kids
There’s more than one way to manage myopia, and we’ll help you choose based on your child’s age and daily routine. Your child’s treatment plan may include:
- Ortho-k lenses, which your child wears overnight to gently reshape the cornea so they can see clearly during the day without glasses
- Myopia control contact lenses, which are soft daily lenses designed to slow the eye’s growth
- Myopia control glasses, which use specially designed lenses that can slow progression
- Low-dose atropine eye drops, which your child uses once a day, usually at bedtime
Your optometrist may also suggest combining 2 treatments. We’ll check your child’s progress at follow-up visits and adjust the plan if their eyes need something different.
Healthy Eye Habits for the School Year
Homework, reading, and screens all add up to a lot of close-up focus once school starts. A few daily habits can help support your child’s eyes.
Send your kids outside to play whenever you can. About 2 hours of outdoor time each day may help lower the risk of developing myopia, and natural light seems to play a role in healthy eye growth.
Indoors, try the 20-20-20 rule. After every 20 minutes of close work, have your child look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. It gives their focusing muscles a short break during long homework sessions.
Keep books and tablets at a comfortable distance, too. Roughly the length of their forearm works well for most kids (and yes, that applies to bedtime reading).
Give Your Child a Clear View of the Classroom
Book a kids’ eye exam before the school year gets busy. Your optometrist can check for myopia and talk you through treatment options if your child needs them.
At Eyecare Plus, we offer kids’ eye exams and myopia control at 6 locations across Greater Nashville: Antioch (Hickory Hollow), Clarksville, Green Hills, Hendersonville, Columbia, and Murfreesboro.
Schedule your child’s back-to-school visit, and we’ll help you find a plan that fits your family.
