Myopia Control Program

Myopia (or “nearsightedness”) is a common eye condition where the eye cannot see distance objects clearly and occurs when the eye grows longer than it should. As myopia increases, the risk for developing conditions such as myopic maculopathy, glaucoma, and retinal detachments later in life increases - these conditions can lead to permanent vision loss. As myopia increases, your child will become more dependent on glasses and/or contact lenses to see clearly, may struggle more with everyday tasks and may have worse quality of vision with AND without visual correction. This can negatively affect their quality of life and potential future opportunities.

The goal of the Myopia Control program at Akron Children’s Hospital is to try and slow down your child’s eye growth to reduce their risk of these complications in the future and to hopefully keep their myopia from progressing too far. Currently, the available treatment options we provide are low-dose atropine eye drops that are used in each eye every night, or special contact lenses that must be worn daily instead of glasses. With more and more research on myopia control therapies taking place each year, we are excited about the potential to offer new treatment options for our patients in the future such as special myopia control glasses as they become available in the United States.