Find An Eye Doctor for my nearsighted child.
Does your eye doctor recommend products that correct nearsightedness and slow the progression in children?
Overview
Finding the right eye doctor for your child is an important step in supporting their long-term vision. Many optometrists now provide myopia management, an approach that focuses on slowing the progression of nearsightedness while also correcting vision. Starting early can make a meaningful difference. This guide will help you find one near you.
You are looking for an optometrist who specializes in myopia management. This is a specialty within eye care where the doctor goes beyond writing a glasses prescription and actively works to slow how fast your child's myopia progresses.
A myopia management optometrist will offer treatments such as specialty contact lenses, orthokeratology (overnight lenses), atropine eye drops, or myopia control glasses. Not all optometrists offer these, so it is worth taking a few extra steps to find one who does.
Four Steps to Find a Myopia Management Eye Care Provider:
Start with Who You Already Know
Identify a shortlist of two or three eye care providers.
Find out if they offer myopia management. See the questions to ask below.
Schedule an appointment.
How to develop an initial list of doctors
Your current optometrist is always a good first call. Ask them directly whether they offer myopia management for children. If they don’t, ask if they can refer you to someone who does. Many practices have a colleague or network they can point you towards.
Word of mouth often leads to the best recommendations.
Ask your family. Ask other parents, friends or neighbors what optometrist their kids’ visit. Chances are there are eye doctors in your children’s circle of friends that several kids go to.
Ask your pediatrician for a recommendation. They may be able to suggest a specialist in your area.
Use these doctor locators provided by contact lens and spectacle lens companies. You can either look up the doctors in a directory or fill out a form and they will send you a list based on your zip code.
For MiSight contact lenses (FDA-approved for children ages 8 to 12): Find a MiSight provider at CooperVision
For Essilor Stellest lenses (FDA-authorized myopia control glasses: Find an Essilor provider
For Euclid orthokeratology (overnight contact lenses): Find an Euclid ortho-k provider
Put your optometrists’ shortlist into google maps and see how close they are to where you live. How far are you willing to drive? You may want to eliminate doctors that are too far away. While you are using google maps, see if there are a few doctors near where you live.
Once you have a prospective list, then the next step is research.
Research eye care providers
Put together a list of two or three doctors, listed in order of preference. Start at the top of the list and call the practice and ask questions from the list below. If they answer no to the questions, then cross them off the list.
Ask them whether they offer complimentary myopia management evaluations.
Find an optometrist who offers myopia management services for children. Someone who goes beyond correcting nearsighted vision and presents options to slow the progression of myopia.
Most of this research on locating an optometrist can be conducted online. And those that pass the initial online sniff test, can be vetted by a quick phone call.
Look at their website.
The easiest and fastest place to gather information is an optometry practice website.
Does the website look up to date? Is there a mention of myopia management? Is there a section for pediatrics? Are their pictures of children? Do they offer ortho-k? Do they prescribe MiSight 1 Day or Stellest spectacle lenses?
If their website has myopia management, or Stellest, ortho-k, or MiSight 1 day, then call that office.
Read Reviews
Check out Yelp or other review sites. Gauge the level of professionalism, customer service, and whether they are oriented towards families and the community. How many stars do they have? How many reviews. If there are enough reviews, they can give you an indication of what they are like.
Check out their Facebook page.
What pictures are they posting? Are they children-friendly?
Screening Questions for Myopia Management
Questions to ask on the phone, in an email or in person.
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Focus on Children
Does your practice cater to children, adults or seniors? What percent of the eye exams are for patients under 18, compared to adults and seniors? What is the doctor’s experience in treating children?
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Myopia Management Specialty
Does the doctor offer myopia management for children? What treatment options does he/she prescribe?
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Treatment Options
Does the doctor offer soft contact lenses options for myopia management or myopia control glasses? What do they prescribe?
Does the doctor prescribe MiSight 1 day contact lenses or Stellest?
Does the doctor currently prescribe orthokeratology? What lenses does he/she offer?