Myopia Management for Children in Plantation, FL
Treatment options that work to slow nearsightedness while your child is still growing.
Book a Myopia Consultation Call (954) 908-3937Does your child’s prescription jump every year?
A stronger pair of glasses each visit is a familiar routine for many families. What’s often missed is why it happens: in a growing child, the eyeball itself can keep lengthening, and every bit of extra length pushes the prescription further into nearsightedness.
Myopia management at Eyes On 3rd is built around that underlying growth. Rather than only correcting today’s blur, we use treatments intended to slow how fast the eye elongates, so the prescription doesn’t climb as steeply over the years.
The question we ask isn’t “what’s the new prescription?” It’s how quickly your child is changing, and which treatment gives them the best chance of holding that change back.
Myopia, in plain terms
Nearsightedness happens when light entering the eye comes to a focus before it reaches the retina, most often because the eye has grown slightly too long from front to back. Close-up objects stay sharp; anything at a distance turns soft.
It typically shows up in the elementary or middle-school years and tends to worsen through adolescence while the eye is still developing.
Why a “little more each year” adds up
The concern isn’t thicker lenses. As myopia climbs, so does the lifetime likelihood of serious eye problems, including retinal detachment, changes to the macula, and glaucoma, several of which can permanently affect sight.
Catching fast progression early gives us the widest window to act.
How we treat childhood myopia
No single approach suits every child. We weigh age, current prescription, how quickly it has been shifting, axial length and eye shape, activity level, maturity, and what your family is comfortable with, then build a plan around that picture.
MiSight® 1 day Contact Lenses
MiSight® 1 day is a soft, single-use contact lens made specifically for children with myopia. It sharpens distance vision like a regular lens, but its optics are engineered to send a signal that discourages the eye from growing longer.
What families appreciate
- Fresh pair every morning, nothing to clean or store
- Glasses-free for school, sports and play
- Crisp distance vision throughout the day
- Designed and studied for myopia control from the ground up
Over a three-year clinical study, children in MiSight® 1 day showed roughly 59% less progression in prescription and 52% less eye elongation than peers in standard single-vision daily lenses. A separate two-year randomized trial reported similar advantages.
Orthokeratology (Ortho-K)
Ortho-K uses custom rigid lenses worn only while sleeping. Overnight, they gently flatten the front surface of the eye, so most children wake up, remove the lenses, and see clearly all day without glasses or daytime contacts.
Beyond convenience, the reshaped optics appear to change how light lands on the peripheral retina, a mechanism thought to slow elongation of the eye. In the two-year ROMIO randomized trial, children in Ortho-K lenses had markedly less axial growth than children in single-vision glasses.
Why families choose it
- Nothing to wear during waking hours
- Ideal for athletes, swimmers and very active kids
- Correction happens while they sleep
Because these lenses are worn overnight, a precise fit, consistent hygiene and regular check-ins with our doctors are non-negotiable.
Low-Dose Atropine
Atropine has decades of research behind it for childhood myopia. For this purpose it’s prescribed at a fraction of the strength used in other eye treatments, usually as a single drop in each eye at bedtime.
Clinical trials show low-concentration atropine can meaningfully slow prescription change, though how much a given child responds depends on the concentration used, their age, ethnicity, starting prescription and other factors.
Possible side effects are usually mild, and can include:
- Slightly enlarged pupils
- More sensitivity to bright light
- Some difficulty focusing up close
- Minor blur when reading
We recheck both prescription and eye length on a regular schedule to confirm the drops are doing their job.
Stellest™ Myopia Control Lenses
Not every child is ready for lenses in the eye or drops at night. Stellest™ spectacle lenses put myopia control into an ordinary-looking pair of glasses.
The lens surface carries a ring of microscopic lenslets (Highly Aspherical Lenslet, or HAL, technology) around a clear central zone. The center delivers sharp vision; the lenslets create a defocus signal that’s designed to discourage the eye from lengthening.
A two-year randomized trial found children in HAL lenses progressed significantly less, in both prescription and axial length, than those in conventional single-vision glasses. A more recent U.S. trial in children aged 6 to 12 reached the same conclusion.
Why parents like it
- No contacts, no drops
- Looks and wears like everyday glasses
- Clear central vision
- Slots easily into a child’s routine
Can two treatments be used together?
Yes, when it’s warranted. Some children keep progressing on a single therapy, and adding a second one is a reasonable next step. Pairing Ortho-K with low-dose atropine, for example, has been shown in several studies to slow eye growth more than Ortho-K on its own; a 2026 randomized trial found the 0.01% atropine plus Ortho-K combination outperformed Ortho-K alone over two years.
If your child’s numbers are still moving despite treatment, we’ll talk through whether to switch strategies or add to the current one.
Choosing the right treatment
We don’t default to one option. Every plan starts with a look at the whole child:
From there we recommend a plan, and we revisit it as your child grows.
We measure the eye, not just the prescription
A prescription tells you how blurry things are. It doesn’t tell you whether the eye is still elongating, and that’s the number that matters most for long-term eye health.
At each visit we’re tracking two things: has the prescription changed? and has the eye grown?
Axial length measurements give us a direct read on progression and on how well a treatment is working. Because children change quickly, we reassess prescription, visual function and eye growth at regular intervals and adjust the plan when the data calls for it.
Common questions from parents
How young can a child start myopia management?
There’s no minimum age in the strict sense; readiness for a given treatment matters more. If your child’s prescription has moved at back-to-back exams, it’s worth a conversation now rather than later.
Are these treatments safe?
Every option here is prescribed and supervised by our doctors, with follow-up visits built into the plan. We go over expectations and potential side effects with you before anything starts.
Will insurance cover it?
It depends on the plan. Our team reviews your benefits ahead of time and explains any out-of-pocket cost. We also offer payment plans.
What happens at the first visit?
We measure your child’s prescription and axial length, review how things have changed over time, discuss lifestyle and readiness for each treatment type, and recommend a plan.
Give your child’s eyes a better trajectory
Book a myopia management consultation at Eyes On 3rd in Plantation. We’ll measure where your child is today and map out a plan to slow things down.
Book Online Call (954) 908-393712331 SW 3rd St, Suite 300 · Plantation, FL 33325