My daughter was diagnosed with myopia in Primary 2 with -2.00 D. By Primary 4, the power of her glasses had shot up to -4.00 D. As a myopic mum, I have been anxious about the fast progression of her myopia, and how it will impact her long-term eye health and vision. Especially because studies show that the earlier a child gets myopia, the faster it will progress, and continue to worsen.
Research also shows that young children who develop myopia before the age of 12 are more at risk of developing high myopia, leading to increased risks of sight-threatening diseases such as myopic macular degeneration and retinal detachment. The stats in Singapore are rather worrying too - 65 percent of children are myopic by Primary 6, and 83 percent of young adults are myopic.
Taking eye breaks, getting plenty of outdoor time, and limiting book and screen time are some ways to slow down myopia progression. My daughter, however, loves to read, and enjoys coding and animating. As her mum, it upsets me when I have to stop her from doing things she is passionate about.
Also, in the post-pandemic world, there’s no running away from near-work activities and online classes. I went around asking my friends if they were facing a similar predicament. Turns out, I wasn’t alone. My neighbour confided that her daughter’s glasses were getting in the way of her wushu training. Another friend of mine shared that her daughter finds wearing glasses to be an inconvenience while dancing on stage. It gets hard to focus as she keeps worrying they’ll fall off. Plus, it also makes her a little too conscious about her looks.
As parents, we were all looking for solutions that would help slow down the progression of our kids’ myopia and enable them to continue doing what they loved doing the most. If wearing glasses only helped correct their vision, but did nothing to slow down myopia progression, how else could we protect their eye health and prevent their eyesight from deteriorating?
How to prevent children’s myopia from worsening
It was then that I learned about ACUVUE® Abiliti™ Overnight Therapeutic Lenses. These lenses have been recently launched by Johnson & Johnson Vision in Singapore.
They are overnight Ortho-K therapeutic lenses with the CE-mark¹ for myopia control. Mums and dads, you will be excited to know that children can wear these lenses while they sleep and won’t need any vision correction the next day *¹⁰. That’s right, they don’t have to wear glasses or contact lenses during the day.
This is because, when worn overnight, Ortho-K lenses temporarily reshape the cornea⁶⁷⁸⁹, allowing kids to see clearly the next day.
This is great news, as children can see clearly for school, sports, swimming, and all their other activities without the inconvenience of glasses, or the risk of breaking or losing their glasses or daytime contact lenses.
As a mum, I was also super relieved to know that these lenses can help manage myopia progression in children. The development and progression of myopia in children have been linked to excessive axial elongation (Elongation of the eyeball). These lenses have been scientifically proven to reduce axial elongation by 0.28mm on average over two years*²³⁴⁵.
This means that my child can pursue coding and her love for reading without being stressed about it affecting her eyesight.
I admit that initially, I had concerns about letting my child use contact lenses, especially when it comes to wearing them and their ease of use, but I was surprised by how simple it was. These lenses are quite easy to maintain and worry not, they won’t tear easily or get stuck in the eye.
Also, since these lenses are used overnight at home, we can help our children with insertion and removal, especially if they are young.
What I also liked about ACUVUE® Abiliti™ is the accompanying SeeAbiliti™app, which contains a lot of resources for myopia management. You can track your child’s daily screen usage using this app. It also helps children practise good eye care habits by reminding them to take screen breaks and reduce screen time.
If like me, you have a child whose myopia is progressing quickly, I strongly recommend that you head over to https://www.seeyourabiliti.com/sg/ to do a risk assessment now. You can try out Abiliti™ Overnight Therapeutic Lenses like I did, by booking an appointment with an ACUVUE Abiliti™authorised eye care practitioner. Each lens is specifically designed based on your child’s unique corneal shape and prescription¹¹.
Poor vision can interfere with a child’s ability to learn and reach their highest potential. Sadly, so many children in low-income and underserved communities don’t have access to quality eye care and treatment.
As a parent, I found it really heartening to know that with every annual purchase of Abiliti™, Johnson & Johnson Vision will provide a free comprehensive eye exam to a child in need as part of the Sight for Kids® initiative. This means that not only am I helping my child with her vision problem, I am also indirectly helping a child in need to get access to vision screening.
Our little ones’ eyes are precious - they are their window to the world. By practising good eye care habits and through early diagnosis and treatment we can help prevent vision loss and protect their eyes for the future.
References:
* Compared to single vision spectacles
** Reducing refractive error up to 4.00 D and up to 2.50 D of astigmatism
1 In Europe, products that hold a marketing authorisation are designated a ‘CE’ marking.
2 Cho P, Cheung SW. Retardation of myopia in Orthokeratology (ROMIO) study: a 2-year randomised clinical trial. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci [Internet]. 2012/09/13. 2012;53(11):7077– 85.
3 Santodomingo-Rubido J, Villa-Collar C, Gilmartin B, Gutiérrez- Ortega R. Myopia control with orthokeratology contact lens in Spain: Refractive and biometric changes. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2012;53(8).
4 Chen C, Cheung SW, Cho P. Myopia control using toric orthokeratology (TO-SEE study). Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci [Internet]. 2013/09/05. 2013;54(10):6510–7.
5 Walline JJ, Robboy MW, Hilmantel G, Tarver ME, Afshari NA, Dhaliwal DK, Morse CL, Quinn CJ, Repka MX, Eydelman MB. Food and Drug Administration, American Academy of Ophthalmology, American Academy of Optometry, American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, American Optometric Association, American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, and Contact Lens Association of Ophthalmologists Co- Sponsored Workshop: Controlling the Progression of Myopia: Contact Lens and Future Medical Devices. Eye Contact Lens.
6 Santodomingo-Rubido J, Villa-Collar C, Gilmartin B, Gutiérrez- Ortega R. Short-term changes in ocular biometry and refraction after discontinuation of long-term orthokeratology. Eye Contact Lens. 2014;40(2).
7 Cho P, Cheung SW. Discontinuation of orthokeratology on eyeball elongation (DOEE). Cont Lens Anterior Eye [Internet]. 2017/01/01. 2017;40(2):82–7.
8 Lau JK, Vincent SJ, Cheung SW, Cho P. The influence of orthokeratology compression factor on ocular higher-order aberrations. Clin Exp Optom. 2020 Jan; 103(1):123-128
9 Wan K, Lau JK kit, Cheung SW, Cho P. Refractive and corneal responses of young myopic children to short-term orthokeratology treatment with different compression factors. Contact Lens Anterior Eye. 2020;43(1):65-72.
10 Data on File 2021. Menicon CE technical file.
11 Data on File 2021 Menicon Design History file.