Myopia Control
The future of pediatric eye care is protecting your child’s vision by slowing down the progression of their growing eyes.
Myopia, or nearsightedness, is more than just blurry distance vision. As prescriptions grow stronger, the visual demands of everyday life become more difficult. Additionally, as a child’s eyes grow, they can also become too long, stretching sensitive sensory tissue and increasing the lifetime risk of vision-threatening conditions like retinal tears, retinal detachments, glaucoma, cataracts, and myopic maculopathy. Slowing this eye growth protects both their quality of life and long-term ocular health.
At Gainesville Vision, our doctors provide an evidence-based, year-long myopia control program designed to slow the growth of the eye, preserve visual function, and support healthy development throughout childhood leading to quality of life improvements that last a lifetime.
Why Myopia Progresses
Children’s eyes naturally grow, but for some, they grow too quickly. This leads to an increase in myopia and longer eyes that become more vulnerable over time. Genetics, but also lifestyle factors such as excess screen time, heavy near work, and limited outdoor exposure can accelerate progression.
Our goal is to track and manage this growth using advanced diagnostic tools and proven treatment options.
How Gainesville Vision Manages Myopia
Comprehensive Eye Exam
A comprehensive eye exam is always integral to identifying if your child is at risk for myopia progression. Assessing the visual system as a whole, including refractive error, focusing ability, and binocularity, is a prerequisite to establishing an effective treatment plan. Establishing a detailed baseline assessment of the health of every structure of the eye is also vital to ensure that there are no anatomical changes that could be linked to increases in myopia.
Axial Length Tracking (Ultrasound A-Scan)
In addition to the comprehensive exam, our myopia control program also measures the axial length, the physical length of the eye. This metric is the most objective way to monitor progression because it directly correlates with myopia while being independent from factors like focusing ability.
Using ultrasound technology, we track your child’s growth every 6 months and compare it to established age-matched norms. This objective monitoring allows us to determine the effectiveness of the prescribed treatment plan compared to normal progression.
Myopia-Control Eyeglasses
Myopia-control spectacle lenses use advanced optical designs that focus peripheral light in front of the retina, which slows the stimulus for the eye to elongate. These lenses look nearly identical to traditional lenses but contain invisible treatment zones arranged in circular patterns to slow progression.
- Completely clear central optics
- Unnoticeable cosmetic appearance
- Ideal for ages 6–16
- Demonstrated up to 71% reduction in myopia progression over two years compared to standard spectacle lenses
They are an excellent option for all children with any risk for myopia progression, especially those not ready for contact lenses or those with higher levels of astigmatism. Our staff are experts in precision lens fitting, which is paramount in aligning the optics of myopia control lenses.
Myopia-Control Soft Contact Lenses
Daily disposable myopia-control contact lenses are similar to spectacle lenses, using alternating treatment zones of correction to create myopic defocus, signaling the eye to slow growth.
- Daily disposable for hygiene and comfort
- Suitable for most children age 8 and above
- Demonstrated up to 59% reduction in myopia progression compared to standard contact lenses
Our doctors and staff provide all training, insertion and removal education, and follow-up care to ensure safe, confident wear.
Our Philosophy
We believe that evaluating every child for myopia control should be a standard of care for all children, especially as the incidence of myopia continues to increase worldwide.
Our role is to provide precise diagnostics, guide families through clear education, monitor treatment efficacy over time, and tailor myopia control solutions to each child’s lifestyle, risk factors, and visual needs.
If you notice that your child’s prescription is changing every year, or even if you or your partner have a history of nearsightedness, myopia control is not just about getting your child seeing well, it’s about setting up their future for success.
If your child’s prescription increases year after year, or if you or your partner are nearsighted, early detection and intervention are key. Myopia control goes beyond simply helping them see clearly today; it’s about protecting their long-term vision and setting them up for a lifetime of healthier eyes.