We recently obtained Ortho-K lens for our 11-year-old as his myopia was progressing faster than normal. These are hard contact lens worn during sleep, they work by basically flattening the cornea. Next day morning when they wake up, vision is perfect, and glasses are not needed for the next day. Ortho-K contacts must be worn every night. If not, kid simply has to use his glasses. https://www.visioncenter.org/contacts/orthokeratology/
One has to wear the contacts every night. They do not reverse myopia but are the most effective in stopping further progression of myopia. As per our eye doctor, ortho-K lens is the most effective (~80%) and is a non-destructive method unlike LASIK which basically burns the cornea to the right shape.
Wow, thanks for posting that link! I was able to find his paper, "The End of Myopia", and glasses patent which describe his theory of myopia progression and preventative solution. The patent describes a pair of glasses with tiny dots (<1 mm in diameter) spread uniformly across the lens except in the central 7 mm diameter. The dots reduce the contrast of your peripheral vision which inhibits axial eye growth, and the clear region allows the wearer to see normally in the center of vision.
The theory is that children are naturally far sighted which creates blurrier/lower contrast central vision and sharper/higher contrast peripheral vision. The brain interprets the higher contrast peripheral vision as a sign the eye is too short and far sighted, and the eye begins to grow. As the eye grows to the appropriate length, central vision experiences higher contrast and peripheral vision experiences lower contrast, and the eye stops growing.
If you degrade the peripheral vision's ability to experience higher contrast at all with these glasses, then the brain will never see a need to grow the eye.
I've had these for about 12 years, they don't get mentioned enough!
Downsides were that in the US there were expensive, and need proper daily cleaning, but the tradeoff is worth it - only need 1 pair per year - less waste too!
Going to get Lasik this year because they don't play nicely with travel in developing countries, but they were absolutely fantastic for school and university.
One has to wear the contacts every night. They do not reverse myopia but are the most effective in stopping further progression of myopia. As per our eye doctor, ortho-K lens is the most effective (~80%) and is a non-destructive method unlike LASIK which basically burns the cornea to the right shape.
There is also a team at Univ. of Washington who designed glasses to slow down the progression of myopia (approved in Canada, not yet in the USA). https://newsroom.uw.edu/news/glasses-stop-myopia-are-success...