Straight talk
What myopia management cannot do
What you might expect to hear
“This will stop your child's short sight getting worse.”
What is actually true
Myopia management slows the rate at which a child's eye grows too long. It does not stop it, it does not reverse it, and it does not undo the growth that has already happened.
Why
This is the most oversold thing in optometry, and it is oversold precisely because it works — there is real evidence behind the main approaches, which makes the exaggeration easy and makes it worse. A slowed rate is a genuinely valuable thing: it is the difference between where a prescription ends up at twenty and where it would have ended up. It is not a cure, and a child on a programme will still need glasses.
What we do instead
We measure the length of the eye and write it down, so that a year later there is something to compare against rather than an impression. We tell you what the options do and what is known about each. And we say the free part first: time outdoors and reading distance are associated with slower progression and cost nothing.
The other eight
Straight answers to the rest of what this site will not pretend.
Book a myopia management review
A programme that slows the change is still worth measuring properly, every six months, while the eye is still growing.