A Rossendale based optician has urged parents with short-sighted children to take action to slow the progression of myopia. 

Short-sightedness is expected to affect half of the world’s population by 2050 with serious eye conditions, including retinal detachment and myopic maculopathy, directly related to the condition. 

The rapid rise in myopia is multifactorial, believe optometrists, with increased use of electronic devices and near work, plus reduced time spent outside believed to be major factors.  

EyeDream MC night lenses, worn as the child sleeps, gently change the shape of the cornea by less than a hair’s width using a treatment modality known as Orthokeratology. 

The moulding effect of the lens provides temporary correction and clear vision for the day ahead.

David Gould, an optician from Rossendale, has several patients who have been using EyeDream lenses for 15 years.

He said: “At the start, people liked to be free of specs and glasses during the day, and this was before the profession started to recognise the stabilising effect that the lenses have on prescription. We know that orthokeratology slows things down.  

“It is really reassuring to see rates at which you would expect people’s sight to deteriorate to be considerably less than if they were not using EyeDream.

“In some cases it stops progression in its tracks, stabilising the prescription.  

“This is one of the first tools in our belt to tackle myopia: the statistics are not good for myopia but the optical profession is able to do something about it."

He added: “One of my longstanding patients started using EyeDream aged seven and she is now 15 and still using the overnight lenses. 

“Her parents are -5.00 and -12.00 dioptres, but her prescription has stabilised and she has a manageable prescription – this is not what her parents were expecting and is a good example of the results of EyeDream.” 

Optometrist Katie Harrop said: “In 50 years the prevalence of myopia in the UK has more than doubled – from 10 per cent in the 1960s to 23 per cent in the 2000s.  

“Experts in myopia predict that by 2050 more than half of the global population will be myopic. This is not just an inconvenience, but a chronic, progressive, condition.  
“It is directly implicated with serious eye conditions in middle age and later life as elongated axial length puts the eye under stress.  

“We have it within our power as optometrists to reduce the incidence of myopia related eye disease. Every dioptre of myopia progression that is saved is important for the future visual health of the patient.”