Myopia is more than needing glasses — it's a lifelong eye health factor. Here's why managing it matters, the treatment options we offer, and why our clinic is recognised as a world leader in this field.
Myopia isn't just an inconvenience corrected with a stronger prescription — the higher it gets, the more it affects a child's life, now and in the future.
Keeping myopia lower means thinner, lighter, more comfortable lenses — instead of thick "coke bottle" glasses as prescriptions climb.
If your child considers laser eye surgery as an adult, a lower final prescription means a wider range of safe, effective surgical options later in life.
Lower myopia carries meaningfully less lifetime risk of sight-threatening conditions like retinal detachment, myopic maculopathy and glaucoma.
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Rising myopia, rising lifetime risk
Research shows risk rises with every dioptre of myopia, with no threshold below which it's completely risk-free. A landmark analysis in Optometry and Vision Science (Bullimore & Brennan, 2019) found each additional dioptre is associated with a 67% increase in myopic maculopathy prevalence — meaning slowing progression by just one dioptre can cut that lifetime risk by around 40%, regardless of starting point. It's why the myopia management community, including resources like Myopia Profile, emphasises that "every dioptre matters."
Once myopia has progressed, that increased lifetime risk is locked in — you can't wind the clock back. That's why we focus on early detection and proactive management, not waiting until a problem is already obvious.
By the time a child complains they can't see the board, meaningful myopia has often already developed — and every dioptre gained from this point still carries lifetime risk that could have been reduced.
Tracking axial length allows us to detect the earliest signs of eye growth — often before a measurable prescription even develops — so we can intervene at the point of maximum benefit.
The old school of thought among traditional optometrists was to monitor a newly diagnosed child with myopia for a year or more before starting any intervention, waiting to confirm progression before acting. By the time that confirmation arrives, meaningful progression has often already happened — and that progression can't be undone. Once myopia is diagnosed, we believe the case for starting management immediately is far stronger than the case for waiting.
Age of onset matters.A child diagnosed at 6 has many more growing years ahead than a child diagnosed at 12 — giving their eyes a longer window to elongate before growth naturally slows in the late teens. Research by Mark Bullimore and colleagues on myopia progression confirms that earlier onset is strongly linked to a higher risk of reaching high myopia by adulthood, which is exactly why younger children with myopia warrant the most urgent attention.
There's no one-size-fits-all approach — we offer the full range of options, so your child's plan is built around what's right for them.
Custom overnight lenses that correct vision while you sleep and slow myopia progression during the day — no glasses or daytime lenses needed. Our single most-fitted myopia control treatment.
Daily disposable soft lenses (such as MiSight or Abiliti) worn during the day, using dual-focus optics to slow eye growth.
Lenses that look like ordinary glasses (such as MiyoSmart, Stellest or MyoCare), using peripheral defocus technology to slow progression.
Low-dose medicated drops used nightly to help reduce the rate of myopia progression, often combined with an optical treatment.
A quick, non-invasive at-home treatment using low-level red light to stimulate the retina, used as part of a personalised control plan.
For some children, particularly fast progressors, younger ages, and those at higher risk of high myopia and long axial length, combining two treatments with different mechanisms of action can offer an added layer of control.
Combining the optical defocus effect of OrthoK with the pharmacological action of low-dose atropine targets myopia progression through two independent mechanisms at once — often considered for children showing rapid progression on OrthoK alone.
Pairing OrthoK's optical treatment with a short daily session of red light therapy adds a second, independent stimulus for slowing axial elongation — an emerging combination we tailor to select cases based on progression.
A 2024 meta-analysis published in Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics examined whether OrthoK lenses with a smaller back optic zone diameter — creating a smaller central treatment zone — produce a stronger myopia control effect than conventional designs. The findings support what we see clinically: customising the treatment zone size to the individual eye can meaningfully improve outcomes over an off-the-shelf lens fit.
This is exactly why we don't use a single standard OrthoK design for every patient. Our clinic fully customises every lens we fit — adjusting treatment zone size and other parameters to the individual eye — to pursue a stronger myopia control effect than conventional OrthoK lenses can achieve.
Conventional
Larger treatment zone
Customised
Smaller, precision-fit treatment zone
Prescription alone doesn't tell the full story — especially for patients in OrthoK, where corneal reshaping temporarily masks the true refractive error. Axial length measures the eye's physical growth directly, making it the gold standard for tracking whether treatment is actually working.
We use both the Zeiss IOLMaster and Oculus Myopia Master biometers to measure axial length to 0.01mm accuracy — up to 10 times more sensitive at detecting change than prescription alone. Each child's measurements are plotted against age- and gender-specific normative growth curves, so we can detect the earliest signs of abnormal eye growth, often before a measurable prescription develops.
Our clinic's reputation extends well beyond Melbourne. Principal Optometrist Dr Philip Cheng is regularly invited to present at international conferences on myopia management and orthokeratology, and our clinic's approach has been profiled in Review of Myopia Management as an example of what a genuinely "all-in" myopia management practice looks like — recognised internationally, not just locally.
Myopia management is a genuine subspecialty — these credentials represent advanced training most optometrists don't pursue.
Represents the highest level of recognised expertise in orthokeratology and myopia control, held by only a small number of practitioners worldwide. Fellowship requires demonstrated advanced clinical experience and knowledge, well beyond standard optometric training.
A dedicated certification confirming rigorous, up-to-date knowledge across the full breadth of evidence-based myopia management — not just one treatment method. It signals a practitioner genuinely committed to best-practice, whole-of-family myopia care.
We'll measure your child's axial length, discuss risk factors, and map out the right treatment plan for their eyes.