Nearsightedness in children is becoming increasingly common and more severe in the US and around the world, likely due to too much screen time and insufficient time outdoors.  The COVID pandemic made things worse for children on this as well as other fronts. Nearsightedness typically involves the eye growing too fast into the shape of an egg rather than a sphere.  Too long of an eye increases the lifelong risk of retinal detachment, cataract, glaucoma, and other medical conditions of the eye.

While standard glasses obviously help children see, in general they don’t affect the growth of the eye.  Slowing the growth of the eye has generally needed the use of dilating drops that sting (atropine) or specialized contact lenses.  That is now changed with the advent of Stellest eyeglass lenses, which were approved by the FDA in November 2025. These lenses still correct the child’s vision to help sight, but they also use a technology (highly aspheric lenses) that modifies how light is transmitted onto the retina; due to this modified light transmission, the retinal growth signals to the other tissues of the eye are reduced. which slows down the rate of eye growth and worsening of nearsightedness by 71%. This helps the long term eye health of children.

If you have a child with nearsightedness, please make an appointment with one of our optometrists, Dr. Jernberg, Dr. Bautista, or Dr. Lorenzen to see what the best option for your child would be.