My child sees fine with glasses — why treat the myopia itself?

Glasses correct the blur but not the elongation behind it. Risk later in life tracks the prescription, which is why slowing progression is the goal.

Is nearsightedness really that common?

Yes — it affects nearly 30% of the U.S. population and is expected to keep rising, which is exactly why management programs exist.

When should we start?

Once progression is happening, sooner is better. A baseline exam tells us the starting point and the pace.

What is myopia (nearsightedness)?

Myopia, or nearsightedness, means close objects look clear while distant ones look blurry. It happens when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, or when the cornea or lens curves too steeply, so light focuses in front of the retina instead of on it. It usually starts between ages 6 and 14 and gets worse until the early twenties.

Nearsightedness of 6 diopters or more, a prescription of −6.00 or stronger; below about −5 or −6, eye doctors often call it common myopia. High myopia matters because the eye is longer, and the risk of retinal tears and detachment, cataract and glaucoma rises with the severity. In some eyes it damages tissue inside the eye, called pathological myopia.

Medically reviewed by Dr. Bijan Cohenmehr, OD Last reviewed October 27, 2026

Why Myopia Matters

Glasses fix the blur. They don’t fix the eye that keeps growing.

Myopia happens when the eye grows too long for its own optics. Each diopter of progression is more than a stronger prescription — it is a longer, more stretched eye, and stretch is what raises risk later in life. That is the whole case for slowing it while a child is young.

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A child’s glasses resting on an eye chart

The issue: An eye growing too long
The stakes: Risk rises with every diopter
The window: Childhood, while eyes change
The answer: Slow it — Ortho-K leads here

The stakes

What high myopia raises the risk of.

Retinal detachment and retinal disease: A stretched, elongated eye thins and tugs at the retina, making tears and detachments more likely over a lifetime.
Glaucoma: Myopia is linked to higher glaucoma risk, which is one more reason every exam here includes pressure and nerve checks.
Earlier cataracts: High myopia is associated with cataracts arriving sooner than they otherwise would.
Myopic maculopathy: Severe elongation can change the macula itself, the detail-vision center that reading depends on.

None of this is destiny. It is a risk curve, and slowing progression in childhood bends the curve down for good.

The arithmetic

Small changes now, large differences later.

In a 2023 review of seven randomized trials, Ortho-K slowed the eye’s growth by about half over two years, and in the two-year study the FDA reviewed, Essilor Stellest lenses slowed progression by 71% — numbers Dr. Brandon has written about in the practice journal. A child who would have reached a high prescription can land somewhere far safer instead.

Progression is fastest while children are growing, and so is the payoff of acting
Every option still means clear vision today: lenses correct while they control
We measure progression and track it from visit to visit

The program

Three ways we slow it down.

The myopia program

Common questions

Why myopia matters, answered.

Anything else, call the office at 310-828-2010.

Glasses correct the blur but not the elongation behind it. Risk later in life tracks the prescription, which is why slowing progression is the goal.
Yes — it affects nearly 30% of the U.S. population and is expected to keep rising, which is exactly why management programs exist.
Once progression is happening, sooner is better. A baseline exam tells us the starting point and the pace.
Myopia, or nearsightedness, means close objects look clear while distant ones look blurry. It happens when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, or when the cornea or lens curves too steeply, so light focuses in front of the retina instead of on it. It usually starts between ages 6 and 14 and gets worse until the early twenties.
Nearsightedness of 6 diopters or more, a prescription of −6.00 or stronger; below about −5 or −6, eye doctors often call it common myopia. High myopia matters because the eye is longer, and the risk of retinal tears and detachment, cataract and glaucoma rises with the severity. In some eyes it damages tissue inside the eye, called pathological myopia.