How myopia control works.
Nearsightedness in kids tends to increase year after year. Three treatments can slow that down, and they all rely on the same optical idea. This page explains the idea once, then lets you watch each treatment use it.
Why myopia keeps increasing.
Childhood myopia comes from the eye growing a little too long from front to back. Light focuses short of the retina, and distance vision blurs. Once that growth starts, it tends to continue through the school years, which is why the prescription usually gets stronger at each visit.
Higher myopia also raises the lifetime risk of eye problems such as retinal detachment, myopic maculopathy, glaucoma, and earlier cataracts. Slowing the growth while a child is young aims at a lower final prescription and lower lifetime risk. Learn more on our myopia management page.
One optical idea, three treatments.
Ordinary glasses focus the center of vision on the retina, but light entering from the edges lands behind it, and researchers believe the eye reads that as a signal to keep growing.
Each of these three treatments does two jobs at once: it corrects the center of vision, and it brings that edge light to a focus slightly in front of the retina instead. The eye appears to read the new signal as "slow down." Where the three treatments differ is how they build that signal, and when your child wears them. All three have been shown to slow myopia progression; none of them stops it.
MiSight: the signal in a daily contact.
MiSight looks and feels like an ordinary daily disposable contact lens. Invisible treatment rings around its center create the slow-down signal all day while the center corrects vision. In its three-year clinical trial, children wearing MiSight progressed 59% less on average than children in standard daily lenses. MiSight at COVE →
Ortho-k: the signal built in overnight.
Orthokeratology uses a custom rigid lens worn only during sleep. It gently reshapes the cornea overnight, so most wearers see clearly the next day without glasses or daytime contacts, and the reshaped surface builds the slow-down signal into the eye's own optics. Wear the lenses every night, and the effect holds. Ortho-k at COVE →
Stellest: the signal in a pair of glasses.
Stellest looks like an ordinary pair of glasses. A clear zone in the center carries the prescription, and more than a thousand tiny lenslets ring it, creating softly focused light in front of the retina. In Essilor's clinical data, Stellest slowed myopia progression by 71% on average over two years compared with single-vision lenses. Stellest at COVE →
Common myopia-control questions.
Does myopia control stop nearsightedness?
No. These treatments slow how quickly myopia progresses; they do not stop or reverse it. The goal is a lower final prescription than a child would otherwise reach.
When should myopia control start?
Generally, the younger a child is when their myopia starts progressing, the more there is to gain from slowing it. An eye exam is how we tell whether progression is happening and which option fits.
Which of the three is right for my child?
It depends on your child's age, prescription, eye shape, and daily routine. All three options are offered at COVE, so the recommendation can follow directly from the exam.
If the prescription keeps climbing.
If your child's prescription has gone up at back-to-back visits, that is exactly the situation these treatments exist for. We're glad to talk through the options.