Myopia (AKA short sight) is on the rise. And it’s worrying. More children are being diagnosed every day. Within the next few years, it is expected that 50% of 18-year-olds in the UK will be myopic. More importantly, we now have the technology to slow the progression before it really starts to impact your child’s life. It only takes 1 minute a day! Check out our amazing results below...

High levels of short sight significantly increase the risk of serious eye diseases such as retinal detachment and glaucoma later in life. It also makes extremely difficult for your child to see the board at school without glasses.

Short sight doesn’t just affect a child’s ability to learn at school. It can affect playing sports and other activities. In many cases I’ve seen, it can impact confidence and the ability to interact with others. These children suffer low esteem and, despite the Harry Potter effect, often get teased about wearing glasses.

If you’re short-sighted, then you already understand how the condition gets progressively worse so you need stronger glasses every 6 months. You’re probably aware of struggling to see without your glasses on.

Luckily, we now have a revolutionary and scientifically proven option to help slow down the progression of myopia. In about 41% of cases, there was virtually no change at all!

Myopia Management contact lenses are proven to be effective in kids from the age of 5 in slowing down the progression of myopia.

We have invested over £100k in new equipment to help monitor short sightedness and myopia. The biggest risk of myopia is the extended growth of the eyeball, this leads to stronger prescriptions and increased risk of blindness in adults. Complications due to high myopia are already one of the leading causes of blindness. We are excited to announce that we are one of the few practices in the UK that have the technology to accurately measure the length of the eyeball and monitor its growth. This allows us to provide more accurate control and assessment of risk. 

In addition to the optical effect that drives short-sightedness, we have found there is a significant link with difficulties in focusing and binocular vision. As Behavioural Optometrists, we are trained to assess the visual system to a deeper level and providing vision therapy to improve these problems can reduce the change in myopia. Central Vision Opticians are unique in offering a myopia control programme with vision therapy in addition to contact lenses. 

We teach them exactly how to insert and remove the lenses safely.

Bhavin has been amazing and really explained the pros and cons of wearing the lenses. He has also been very patient with Rian especially at the beginning. Although we were a little apprehensive at the beginning we found that young children are very good at handling lenses and age should not be a barrier.

They are single use so every lens they wear is sterile and clean. The risk of an infection is virtually eliminated. We’ve found that children get into good habits of washing their hands and looking after the lenses at a young age which helps when they are older. In fact, the risk of infections is lower than some adults. For reassurance, we offer unlimited emergency appointments if ever there is a problem.

We ensure that children learn how to look after their eyes and lenses very carefully before we let you take them away. We also monitor their eyes frequently so we can identify any problems before it can cause damage. We take eye care very seriously. In over 20 years, we have never had a wearer on our regular replacement scheme who has had damage to their eyes from contact lens wear.

These techniques and contact lenses have been development for over 10 years. There have been published studies that have followed children for over 7 years while wearing these lenses. The children responded very well to lenses. About 40% of the kids had no increase in short-sightedness. The other 60% showed a change of just -0.75DS over 3 years. Just to put it into context, children who wear glasses would have an average change of over -1.50DS. That’s nearly twice as much difference.

Research has found that there is an area of blurry vision in the periphery of our vision that drives extra growth in the eyeball. This leads to the progression of myopia. When you are short-sighted, this area of vision is one of the factors responsible for the changes. It doesn’t matter if you wear your glasses or not, the vision can still get worse. These lenses change in the vision in the periphery while still keeping the central vision clear. This suppresses the additional lengthening of the eyeball thus reducing the rate of change.

Not yet, although we have had a couple of cases where a child needs a prescription that is slightly less strong. The prescription will increase but at a significantly slower rate.

These lenses are also an effective way to slow the progression of myopia. There can be some limitations for higher power ranges but most children can manage very well with this method. For some sports, such as swimming, Orthokeratology  (Orthok) can be preferable. 

Not at all! They are extremely comfortable once they have been applied to the eyes. We offer a free comfort trial so your child can feel how comfortable lenses are before we conduct the consultation.

This is easy. We offer a comfort trial when your child has a sight test with us. This means we’ll apply the lens to their eyes and see how they find them. At this point, 93% of kids are keen to proceed with the lenses. As long your child is comfortable, we perform an assessment and consultation to ensure the fitting is good and the teach them how to handle the lenses. This includes looking after them and applying and removing the lens. As part of the consultation, we give you a week’s supply of the lenses to use at home and school. We perform final checks at the end of the trial to make sure your child is 100% happy and that the lenses are safe for your child to wear. The lenses are received every 3 months and paid by a monthly subscription. This includes any check-ups and further appointments necessary, so you can have peace of mind.

Short-sightedness can be a risk until the late teens so wearing the lenses until the age of 18 is important. However, if your child goes on to university and decides to chose a subject that requires lots of reading, there is evidence to suggest that the short-sightedness could progress during this time so its worth continuing the treatment during university. Most people prefer to wear contact lenses after this age because the vision is clearer and can be more comfortable than glasses.

The myopia control works best when a child wears lenses at least 10 hours a day, they can wear them longer. The lenses need to be worn at least 6 days a week for maximum myopia control.

We are very happy with Central Vision, it is a friendly and family-oriented optician. That’s exactly what we were looking for. I’ve been telling other parents about contact lenses and passing all the information you have given us.

Myopia control lenses are cheaper than the alternative of not stopping the rate of change. Myopia puts a significant risk to our eyes and sight. The emotional impact of wearing spectacles can affect many children. The ability to participate freely in sports and activities cannot be underestimated.

Myopia control contact lenses help to slow down the rate of change. 40% of kids only showed an increase of just -0.25DS after 3 years

Myopia increases the risk of several diseases of the eyes including glaucoma and retinal detachment. By controlling myopia, this risk will be reduced.

These contact lenses are easy to use. Our regular and expert monitoring means that we can reduce the risk of complications.