The premiere Ortho-K & Myopia Control Center of San Fernando Valley

MULTIFOCAL LENSES FOR MYOPIA CONTROL

Multifocal lenses are soft or hard contact lenses that have 2 or more zones. The central zone corrects your prescription, whereas the peripheral zones have additional plus power. Normally these lenses are prescribed for patients who are 40 and above who need additional plus power up close to help with reading. Studies have found that these lenses can also be used in children and teens to help prevent myopia (also known as nearsightedness) from getting worse. The additional plus power in the periphery of the lens that causes peripheral blur in children and young adults. This peripheral blur works similarly to orthokeratology and serves a cue for the retina to stop myopia progression. Multifocals have a similar reduction in progression to orthokeratology at 40-50%.

Is my child/teen a good candidate for multifocals?

Multifocal contact lenses are an excellent option for patients already wearing soft contact lenses or patients with prescriptions too high to be fit in orthokeratology lenses. High astigmatism patients are also a good candidate for multifocal lenses.

When do I wear the lenses?

Multifocal contact lenses are worn during the day and taken off before bedtime. Correction of vision and myopia control treatment are only occurring when lenses are on the eye. Contact lenses should be worn daily for at least 12 hours. It is never advised to sleep, shower, or swim in soft contact lenses. For kids and teenagers wearing soft lenses, it is recommended to be fit in daily disposable contact lenses to prevent infection. Patients wearing multifocal lenses still need a back up pair of glasses for when lenses are not in the eye.

How effective is myopia control with multifocal lenses?

Multifocals have a similar reduction in progression to orthokeratology at 40-50%. If lenses are not worn everyday or for less than 12 hours per day, the reduction in treatment may go down.

How often are follow ups if my child is on this treatment?

After prescribing the lenses and completing the fit, follow ups will be every 6 months to check for myopia progression. This makes sure the lenses are effective and your child's prescription is being controlled.

What is axial length measurement and why is it important?

Axial length is the length of the eyeball. In myopia, the length of the eye increases which can cause later complications such as glaucoma and retinal detachment. In myopia control, our goal is to keep the length of the eye the same. By taking axial length measurements, we are able to determine whether treatment is working. This measurement is a more precise measurement than the prescription changing.


CONSEQUENCES OF UNTREATED MYOPIA

For children, the leading problem is a difficulty when looking at the board at school and being able to keep up with school work. Glasses can cause a hindrance to sports and 40% of children report that they feel uncomfortable wearing glasses.

However, the biggest risk comes much later. Adults who are myopic have a significantly greater risk of blindness. Especially those who have high myopia, where an individual is over 20 times more likely to have a sight-threatening disease compared to a person who is not myopic

WHAT IS MYOPIA CONTROL?

1. What are the side effects of multifocal lenses?

Possible side effects more unique to multifocal lenses are mild blur at near and glare at night time. This can be minimized by reducing the amount of treatment. Other side effects of all contact lenses infection and dry eyes. These can be drastically reduced with proper contact lens hygiene and artificial tears.

2. Are back up glasses necessary?

Yes, glasses are very important. Contact lenses cannot be worn all waking hours are important for correction of vision when glasses are off. It is also important to wear glasses if eyes are feeling dry or irritated. Blue light filtering glasses are beneficial to help with digital eye strain while using computer or other digital devices.

 3. Which is better: orthokeratology or multifocal lenses?

Both are excellent options for myopia control and have similar effectiveness based on clinical studies. The option that is better is dependent on your prescription, age, side effects, and lifestyle. For example, someone who is very involved with sports, orthokeratology is better since you can be free of glasses and soft contact lens for all waking hours. You cannot swim with soft contact lenses on. Young children may do better in orthokeratology since parental guidance will always be there for all hours lenses are on the eye. A college student that only is getting 4-6 hours a night would be better suited for multifocals, since 8 hours is necessary for full treatment in orthokeratology. Our doctors will work with you to get a custom treatment that best suits your lifestyle.

4.If I want to discontinue multifocal contact lenses and start orthokeratology is that ok?

Yes. Before discontinuing the lenses, we recommend having completed the orthokeratology fitting. Our doctors will evaluate every 6 months to ensure that the new orthokeratology treatment is effective.

5. Can I discontinue my lens treatment at any point?

It is possible to discontinue treatment at any time if the treatment is not effective or is not well tolerated by the patient. However, it is very important to discuss this with your optometrist before doing so. A new myopia control treatment plan needs to be set before discontinuing any lenses. Multifocal contacts are only effective when the lens is on the eye. If lenses are discontinued, myopia will continue to progress. For most patients with myopia, progression does not stop until after college.

We are operating by appointments only. Please call ahead of time to schedule your appointment. 

Eyecon Optometry 

7217 Reseda Blvd.

Reseda, CA 91335

(818)-345-2010

info@eyeconsee.com

Office Hours

Mon-Wednesday :  9:00 am - 5:45 pm

Thursday: 8:45 am-4:45 pm

Friday: 8:45 am- 3:45 pm

Closed : Saturday, Sunday