How Kiara got her first minus glasses and her journey with myopia-control lenses

At this age, children’s myopia, or nearsightedness, tends to develop the fastest. The expected development of myopia up to the age of 10 is about 1 dioptre per year. This is primarily caused by the child's rapid growth rate, leading to an elongation of the eyeball as well as environmental changes. When school begins, the amount of close-up work increases and the time spent indoors significantly extends, which contributes to the rapid progress of myopia. Since nearsightedness is associated with various, often irreversible eye diseases, it is important to keep the development of myopia in check. That is why Kiara was prescribed myopia-control lenses, which can limit the progression of myopia by an average of up to 67%. Additionally, it is important to change environmental conditions – taking breaks during close-up work, reducing screen time, spending more time in natural light, wearing glasses regularly. All this requires very good cooperation between the child, the parent and the Pro Optika specialist.

Kiara has an eye exam with optometrist Heili once every six months. Heili has been working at Pro Optika for more than six years and considers the monitoring of young people's vision to be the subject closest to her heart, because in addition to the usual refractive errors, many young people also have various accommodation and vergence issues, making eye exams more interesting and engaging. “Regular and frequent eye exams for myopic children are important to see how the current myopia management measures are working,” says Heili. “If necessary, in cooperation with the child and the parent, we can adjust the myopia control tool or environmental conditions, if we see that myopia continues to progress rapidly. Additionally, frequent eye exams are important to ensure that the child always has clear vision. There is a big difference between a child arriving for an eye exam when the prescription has changed by 0.50 dioptres or by 1.25 dioptres.”

“In Kiara’s case, the myopia control measure has worked as expected or even better,” says the optometrist. “From the beginning, we agreed that she would wear glasses all the time, walk to and from school as much as possible, limit screen time (two hours a day in addition to school), take breaks while studying and maintain a reading distance of at least an elbow's length away (at least 35 cm from the nose). We also meet every six months.” With the support of her family, Kiara has diligently followed the optometrist's recommendations. The most difficult part so far has been limiting screen time, but progress has been made. She also enjoys wearing her chosen glasses and they fit securely and well – an essential factor for the performance of the lenses. The results can already be seen: in a year and four months, the vision in the right eye has not changed, and the myopia in the left eye has developed by only 0.25 dioptres. This is a remarkable achievement considering Kiara's age and growth rate. The eye development is also similar to that of an emmetrope (a person with normal vision). As mentioned before, myopia can progress up to 1 dioptre per year at Kiara's age. Therefore, we encourage all parents to have their children's vision checked, even if the child does not complain about their vision. It is especially important before starting school, when the eyes begin to receive more visual strain, and if at least one parent is nearsighted.

Words of encouragement from Kiara's mother, Carmen

- Kiara is happy to wear her glasses every day and is no longer embarrassed by them, as she initially was.

- On sleepy mornings, she has sometimes gone to the store without her glasses and immediately put them on when she got back because it felt blurry in the store. So Kiara understands very well that glasses are necessary and help her see better.

- When lenses from a different brand were introduced, there was an unreasonable fear that she might not get used to them since she had accepted the previous lenses immediately. You should always trust a specialist.

4. After school, Kiara attends training, socialises with friends and spends a lot of time outdoors, so she hardly has time to pick up her phone. However, the screen limit is still there and we are sticking to it.

5. As a mother, I am very satisfied with the services provided by Pro Optika. The optometrists are skilled and friendly. I also want to give praise to the customer service consultants! Since we are always so busy, a phone reminder for an eye exam is the most convenient for me.

6. Of course, I have also become more aware myself and try to pass on my experiences to friends and relatives who may have a predisposition to myopia.

Pro Optika's reminder on how to help a myopic child

1. Make sure your child spends at least two to three hours outdoors every day. Greater light intensity slows down the development of myopia.

2. Set screen time limits. Screen time should not exceed two hours (excluding study time). Make sure your child keeps smart devices and books at least an elbow's length away from their eyes and does not do close work closer than 20 cm. For every one hour of close-up work, a ten-minute break should be taken to rest the eyes.

3. Use appropriate means to slow the development of myopia. Make sure your child wears glasses or contact lenses at all times when awake (except for ‘night lenses’, which are only used during sleep).

4. Go for an eye exam with your child every six months. Glasses or contact lenses that are too weak can accelerate the increase of the minus. For the best monitoring, have your child's eye length measured.

For more information: www.prooptika.ee/muoopia