New Glasses Study for Nearsighted Children

Is your child nearsighted (myopic)? Bellaire Family Eye Care is conducting a research study using spectacle lenses (glasses) in children with nearsightedness. If your child is 6 to 8 years old and has symptoms of nearsightedness, they may be eligible to participate. Common symptoms of nearsightedness include blurry vision, the need to squint or to…

Our last, and arguably most effective, method of myopia management is Atropine. Atropine is a pharmaceutical drop traditionally used for dilation. Extensive research has found that administering VERY diluted concentrations of this drop can drastically slow, and in some cases stop, myopia progression. The very small concentration used does not typically prompt the adverse effects…

Hopefully, you have read Dr. Aamena Kazmi’s blog about orthokeratology and how it works to slow down myopia progression. If not, you should definitely check it out. This blog is all about how we use BIFOCAL soft contact lenses to manage myopia. That’s right, you didn’t misread it…I said BIFOCALs. This is the exact same…

Orthokeratology, simply known as Ortho-K, is gaining popularity. The best part about it is that it offers a 2-in-1 solution: it corrects your vision AND helps slow down the rate of nearsightedness progression. To begin, let’s understand what Ortho-K is: Ortho-K involves sleeping in a specially designed mold that looks like a contact lens. As…

Before we discuss methods that DO slow down myopia progression, we must first discuss methods that do NOT slow it down. In fact, some of these methods may actually PROMOTE  myopia progression. Eek! Let’s start with the most common: single vision spectacles. This is what most of us “myopes” were prescribed the first time we…

Addressing myopia (nearsightedness) progression is crucial among pediatric and adolescent patients (your kiddos!) since they are still in their developmental years - a period of time when the eyes are undergoing changes and growing. Without intervention, high prescriptions and higher susceptibility to sight-threatening diseases can result over time! People who are myopic have longer eyeballs.…

This week, I wanted to dive deeper into how someone becomes nearsighted. Typically, myopia develops between 8 to 16 years of age and increases until 20-25 years. While progression rates can vary widely, rate of increase is typically rapid at first and slows down over time. Early onset of myopia is linked to a longer…

Most people have some level of prescription. In fact, approximately 30% of the world’s population has myopia and 60% has hyperopia. That leaves only 10% of the population with emmetropia or no prescription at all. What a lucky group! You may have noticed that you don’t hear much about hyperopia and the impact it can…