Myopia is blurry long-distance vision, often called ‘short-sightedness’ or ‘near-sightedness’. A person with myopia can typically see clearly up close – when reading a book or looking at a laptop screen – but words and objects look fuzzy on a whiteboard, on television, across the room, when looking outdoors or when driving. The rate of myopia is growing across the world, increasing from 22% of the world’s population in 2000 to 33% in 2020 – half of the world’s population is expected to be myopic by 2050. Most myopia is caused by the eye length growing too quickly in childhood. The eyes are meant to grow from birth until the early teens and then cease, but in myopia the eyes grow too much and/or continue growing into the teenage years. Once a child becomes myopic, their vision typically deteriorates every 6-12 months, requiring a stronger and stronger prescription. Most myopic children tend to stabilize by the late teens and early 20’s. Excessive eye growth raises concern because even small amounts of stretching can lead to an increased likelihood of vision-threatening eye diseases in later life, such as myopic macular degeneration, retinal detachment, and cataract. Myopia progresses fastest in younger children, especially those under age 10. This means that the most important opportunity to slow eye growth is when children are younger. Myopia management aims to apply specific treatments to slow the excessive eye growth to a lesser rate. Experts agree that myopia management should be commenced for all children under age 12, and typically continue into the late teens. The short-term benefit of slowing myopia progression is that a child’s prescription will change less quickly, giving them clearer vision for longer between eye examinations. The long-term benefit is reducing the lifetime risk of eye disease and vision impairment. This risk increases as myopia does with the good news being that reducing the final level of myopia by only 1 dioptre reduces the lifetime risk of myopic macular degeneration by 40% and the risk of vision impairment by 20%. Standard, single-focus long-distance spectacles or contact lenses do not slow down the progression of childhood myopia. Instead, specific types of spectacles, contact lenses, and eye drops called atropine have been proven to slow myopia progression in children. The best option for your child will depend on their current prescription and other vision and eye health factors determined in their eye examination. We as your eye care practitioner will discuss the options with you to determine the best plant. Treatment options vary across the world due to availability, supply, and regulatory reasons. It is important to note that no treatment can promise the ability to stop myopia progression in children, only to slow it down. Standard single-focus spectacles do not slow the worsening of childhood myopia but specific designs do. Myopia controlling spectacles can both correct the blurred vision of myopia and work to slow down myopia progression. They are safe to wear and adaptation is typically easy, with the only side effects being related to the limitations spectacles pose for sport and active lifestyles. Standard single-focus contact lenses do not slow the worsening of childhood myopia but specific designs do. These specific designs can both correct the blurred vision of myopia and work to slow down myopia progression. The options include soft myopia-controlling contact lenses and orthokeratology. Risks and safety With proper hygiene and maintenance procedures, this risk can be well managed – especially by avoiding any contact with water with contact lenses or accessories. Other side effects of contact lenses to control myopia can be a temporary adaptation to the different experiences of vision, which typically resolves in 1-2 weeks. Benefits Orthokeratology contact lenses are worn overnight and removed upon waking, such that no spectacles or contact lenses are required for clear vision during the day. They can require more appointments for fitting than other types of myopia control treatment. Adaptation to the lens-on-eye feeling can take 1-2 weeks but shouldn’t affect sleep. There are significant benefits for water sports and active lifestyles, and since the contact lenses are only worn at home there is low risk of them being lost or broken during wear. Soft myopia controlling contact lenses are worn during waking hours. They may be daily disposable, or reusable for up to a month. They typically require more appointments for fitting than spectacles but less than orthokeratology. Adaptation to the lens-on-eye feeling typically occurs in a few days. There are benefits in safety with daily disposables being the safest modality, and the number of lenses retained meaning loss or breakage is less of a practical issue. Atropine eye drops in strong concentrations (typically 0.5% to 1%) are used to temporarily dilate the pupil of the eye and stop the focussing muscles working in a variety of clinical applications. Atropine eye drops for myopia control, though, are a low-concentration (0.01% to 0.05%) with much fewer such side effects. Spectacles or contact lenses are still needed to correct the blurred vision from myopia, as atropine only acts to slow myopia progression. Risks and safety Benefits At this time we are offering myopia control using MiYOSMART spectacle lenses only. We hope to be able to offer more of the treatment options at a later stage. Should you wish to make an appointment to discuss your options for treating your child’s myopia risk please give us a call on 876.929.7732 (SPEC), email info@eyeqjamaica.com, or click here. If you have already had a consultation with us and would like to proceed with treatment then please come in so that your child may be fitted with a suitable pair of frames and the MiYOSMART lenses. HOYA MiYOSMART lenses use cutting-edge technology to help manage the development of myopia commonly known as near or short-sightedness. These lenses are clinically proven to be an effective solution to slow down the progression of myopia and are as easy to wear as any pair of glasses. MiYOSMART lenses are a single-vision lens that will enable clear vision in the same way as a conventional glasses lens. However, MiYOSMART lenses use of D.I.M.S., means that on the lens surface there is a “treatment zone” that consists of hundreds of small lenslets that provide additional correction. It is this additional correction that aims to impact on the progression level of myopia. Whilst the lenses are being worn your child will see clearly but also the natural growth of their eyes (and therefore their level of myopia) will be better controlled (reduced) by the D.I.M.S technology. Once your child has worn their new MiYOSMART lenses for 2 weeks please download and complete the Adaptation & Performance Questionnaire and return it to us here online, via email, or to us in person. Should you need to complete section B please call or email us to schedule an appointment. Once you’ve completed the Adaptation & Performance questionnaire above, if any of the following statements are true, please go on and complete Section B and contact us for a follow-up appointment: 1. You’ve rated overall performance 1 or 2 for question 8. Should you not need to complete section B then please bring your child past one of our locations, at your convenience, so that we may adjust their frames as needed to ensure they are still fitting perfectly. We understand that frames may need adjusting from time to time so please ensure you bring your child past so that we may do so whenever necessary as it is important to achieve best results that they fit properly. *If you’re making an appointment for a myopia management consultation please print and sign our informed consent form and take to the examination for quick processing.
MiYOSMART lenses should be worn in the same way as any other corrective pair of lenses. For best results, they should be worn throughout the day as the “main pair of glasses” and left on even in environments where the child is comfortable with their natural level of vision without the glasses. The more waking hours the lenses are worn the greater impact is had on reducing the child’s myopia progression.
As with all new glasses there can be a need for adaptation time, but this is dependent on the individual, we would expect your child should be fully adapted to the lenses within 2 weeks. If your child, does need time to adapt then we would recommend that they should avoid wearing the lenses for intensive activities such as sport, cycling, or other physical activities until they feel they are adapted to the lenses. Many children are comfortable immediately.
As the D.I.M.S. technology is incorporated into a single vision lens, MiYOSMART lenses are classed as a non-invasive treatment option. They pose no risk to eye health as they are just like wearing a conventional pair of lenses.
The technology used is dependent on the MiYOSMART lenses being worn as the full-time correction, so if the lenses are not being worn or only being worn for a short period of time each day then the level of effectiveness will be reduced. If your child finds it difficult to wear their MiYOSMART lenses we would recommend that you return to your eye care professional so that they can assess the reasons why and help find a solution.
Yes, whilst wearing MiYOSMART lenses your child will still see clearly for distance, as there is a central area where they will be viewing through their full correction. Therefore, it is important that the frames are fitted well to ensure they are looking through the optimum point for clear vision.
We recommend that they wear their MiYOSMART lenses as their full-time correction, the “treatment time” will be dependent on the level of their myopia and the potential growth rate of their eyes. With continued MiYOSMART wear your optometrist will measure how the myopia has been managed within the follow up appointments. They will then outline how your child’s prescription has changed and recommend how the treatment should continue.
Within the clinical trial, children who ceased their wear, found that the level of myopia achieved at the point the treatment stopped was maintained, however the natural growth of the eye returned and the progression of myopia started again at that point.
The clinical trial showed that the progression of myopia was reduced by an average of 60%, but obviously each child is unique so you may find that your child achieves a higher or lower result. Your doctor will discuss with you the results within each follow-up appointment so that you can understand how the treatment is impacting the level of myopia for your child.
Due to the material of MiYOSMART we would suggest that they are worn for all activities, as MiYOSMART will provide clear vision and also a higher level of protection due to the greater level of impact resistance compared to conventional single vision lenses.
The lenses have a special anti-reflection coating so we would suggest using a lens cleaner suitable for coated lenses. You should avoid using other harsh cleaning products.
We would recommend that your child is seen at six monthly intervals so that your doctor can assess your child’s prescription and evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. However, your doctor will confirm the frequency of appointments that they feel are suitable for your child. 
What is myopia?
Why is myopia a concern?
Why manage myopia in children?
Treatments for slowing myopia progression
Spectacles
Contact lenses
Contact lens wear increases the risk of eye infection compared to wearing spectacles, with the risks being:
There are many benefits to children wearing contact lenses:
Atropine eye drops
The risks and side effects of atropine are as follows:
Atropine eye drops are typically used at night time, before sleep, so are only utilized in the home environment. They are also ideal if the effective spectacle or contact lens options for myopia control are not suitable or not available for your child. 
Already chose MiYOSMART?
2. Your total ratings add up to less than 16.
3. You’ve answered any question with a rating of 1.Frequently Asked Questions
What does my child have to do?
Is there an adaptation period?
Are there any risks/side effects to wearing MiYOSMART lenses?
What happens if my child does not wear their MiYOSMART glasses?
Will my child’s vision still be clear?
How long does my child have to wear the lenses for?
What happens when/if my child returns to wearing normal glasses?
What results can I expect?
My child has a second pair of glasses they use for sport, should they still wear those?
Should I use any special cleaners or products to clean the lens?
How frequently will I need to bring my child back for an ongoing assessment?
Need More Info?
Resources
A great link to learn more about myopia and assess your child’s current risk of developing it may be found at https://www.mykidsvision.org/en-us
Some other resources that you may find interesting are as follows:
- 2-year Clinical study results for MiYOSMART -BJO peer-reviewed
- 3-year follow up MiYOSMART – BJO peer reviewed
- Hoya publishes 6-year MiYOSMART results
https://www.opticianonline.net/news/hoya-publishes-six-year-miyosmart-results
- Ethnic Differences in the Prevalence of Myopia and Ocular Biometry in 10- and 11-Year-Old Children: The Child Heart and Health Study in England (CHASE)
Our optometrists are certified locally and internationally and use a wide variety of equipment and procedures to examine your eyes. These range from simple tests, like reading an eye chart to complex ones, such as using high powered lenses to visualize tiny structures inside your eyes. All of which set us apart from other optical outlets in Jamaica.
Jamaica's finest Eye Exam. By asking you a series of questions about your occupation, lifestyle, general health, family’s general health and ocular health we can make your eye exam even more specific. It is very important to have a clear understanding of your vision needs, especially if a specific problem is the reason for your visit.
“Your eyes are the front of your brain and the window to your body”. From your eyes we can detect changes that may lead to the diagnosis of underlying diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and macular degeneration. Diabetes is the most common cause of blindness in the working population, so at Eye Q we do complimentary blood sugar screening.
At Eye Q we pride ourselves on supplying a wide range of products and being able to offer our customers excellent advice so that they make informed purchases. Our dispensing team comprises of a Dispensing Optician and Frame Stylists who have been professionally trained and certified with “The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers” in the UK.