MiSight Myopia Control contact lenses - part 2

MiSight lenses were launched at the beginning of 2018, but the technology behind them has been thoroughly tested.

Firstly the lens material has been around for over a decade, we know that it performs well on the eye.  It is comfortable to wear and stable.  We also know that single use daily disposable lenses are the safest way to wear contact lenses.

When studying the lenses, CooperVision choose children from age 8 - 15 years old.  One factor they looked at was how successful the children were in taking care of their contact lenses, and after a month of wear with the contact lenses 100% of the children could easily remove their contacts, 85% also found them easy to insert.  Over the three year study, 100% of those that remained with using the contact lenses reported that they were "happy" with the overall experience.

In the same study, the myopia progression for those wearing the lenses was 59% less than those wearing regular one day single use lenses of the same material, but without the ActivControl Technology.  Importantly this coincided with the measurements of the elongation of the eye, which was 52% less.

It is this eye elongation which we think leads to many of the risks of ocular side effects including retinal detachment and glaucoma.  To be clinically successful in protecting the health of the eyes, the contact lenses don't just need to manage the focus of the eyes, but also the elongation.

The lenses work by providing the retina with different focusing zones, this use of peripheral de-focus has been an emerging concept which we have followed with interest over the last few years.  It completely changes some of our thoughts and models relating to how myopia develops, but it also provides an exciting opportunity to start to understand how we can slow myopic progression.

It must be noted that this may provide some minimal ghosting or a soft-focus type effect on the overall vision, studies have found that this is not unacceptable and doesn't impact on the overall quality of vision experienced by children wearing the lenses.

If you are interested in finding out more about this exciting development in the world of contact lenses and children's vision then don't hesitate to make an appointment.  We will go through all of the information about the contact lenses, starting with a comprehensive eye examination to assess the prescription and the health of the eyes.

MiSight Myopia Control contact lenses - Part 1

A brand new contact lens has been launched onto the market with some pretty bold claims, we wanted to find out more about it.

There is no doubt that myopia (or nearshightedness) is becoming increasingly common.  Studies have shown that in the US over 40% of the population are nearsighted and in some Asian countries this level can be over 80%.  With the current trends, these numbers seem set to continue to rise.

Myopia doesn't just inconvenience someone by requiring them to wear glasses or contact lenses to see distant objects clearly, but also makes the eye more prone to serious sight threatening conditions.  It is this concerning aspect of myopia which makes controlling its development of particular interest.  If we can reduce the risk of retinal detachment, glaucoma, cataract development and myopic macular degeneration then we can make a real impact on the health of our patients' eyes.

Currently we do not fully understand why myopia develops, although we are aware of various risk factors.  It is also common to find that once myopia starts in childhood, it tends to continue to progress developing throughout the teenage years and even in to the early twenties.

There have been various different systems for slowing myopia progression used over the years including rigid contact lenses, orthokeratology, bifocal and multifocal spectacle lenses, bifocal contact lenses and even specific eye drops.

Studies have also shown that if children spend consistent time outdoors in natural daylight, myopia progression is significantly reduced, so we do encourage making lifestyle changes to try to minimise myopic changes.

All of the various systems that have been used previously have advantages, but significant hurdles, which has kept their use to a minimum before.  CooperVision's new single use daily contact lens, MiSight, has the possibility of being a real game changer!

So our first piece of advice is to ensure plenty of outdoors time for children!

Our next post will look more at the actual technology of the lenses themselves.

Cool places for cool kids?

As a new(ish) business we're keen to make sure that we are progressing and growing. One thing that is incredibly important for any optometry business is to ensure that they have a loyal patient base who like to come for their eye examinations. The reasons for this are relatively obvious, it is the solid foundation on which a business can be built, giving repeat business and a collection of advocates for your businesses and services (assuming you do a good job).

One of the hardest things to do when getting going is to create your "own" patients, people may already have a place that they go to for their eye examinations. Perhaps they have gone to their family eye doctor, which they have gone to for years; maybe they shop around from place to place with no real loyalty to any particular optometrist, seeking convenience when necessary.

To this end, as a new optometry clinic, we need to make sure that we are promoting our availability, the skill and dedication of our optometrists (Dr John Wilson and Dr Euan McGinty) and the range of services we offer.

You can perhaps imagine our disappointment, then, when we heard a friend of a friend asked, "but they don't see children, do they?". Errh ... YES!!

It would appear that the confusion came about because of the chic, cool, trendy, cutting edge, funky design of our office (enough superlatives, I think).  Apparently, though, it didn't come across as being child-friendly.

Child friendly space - read on ...

Both John and Euan are dads and know how important it is that children have regular eye examinations.  So much of children's learning is done visually that it good eyesight is integral to good quality childhood development.

Paediatric optometry is of particular interest Euan and as he's our resident uber-geek who does our website, it was one of the reasons that very early on we had a page dedicated to children's eye examinations: http://www.oceanoptometry.ca/index.php/children-s-eye-examinations.

Sometimes people are surprised when we positively advocate for regular eye examinations from a very young age, as young as six months old.  It is crucially important to assess the vision early and regularly to ensure that if any intervention is required then it can be done at the correct time and followed up accurately.  There is no doubt that we all want the best for our children, at this is true of Ocean Optometry as well.

When it comes to glasses for children, we also wish to excel at that as well.   We didn't want to just have adult glasses which have been made smaller, we wanted exceptional eyewear for our exceptional children.  As with all our collections it was important for us to research the ranges available and to select something which we felt best met the criteria.

There is no doubt that ic-berlin has really created something truly special when it comes to children's eyewear.  Their collection is designed by children and their designers to create a complete product by children, for children.  In their own words:

"For children, there are 15 models at ic! berlin. There are eyewear designs by children for children, but also crackers designed by our designers. ic! berlin glasses are lightweight, strong and beautiful. Children should have something like this.

Anyone who has children knows they can be very challenging and very very accurate ..

This challenge we glady accept. The cooperation with them makes us much fun and the kids are "stolz wie Bolle" (Berlin speak for proud). We have children badges for all of our glasses."


As we find more ranges which meet our demanding criteria we will be further expanding the selection of children's eyewear available.


A couple of final thoughts come to mind.

Firstly, why shouldn't children choose an optometry office which is cool and trendy in their outlook?  Soon enough these children will be the cool and trendy ones, as parents we will no longer be hip or groovy, we won't get their music, their fashion sense ... their friends.  As parents, though, we will always be there for them!

Secondly, having a cool and trendy optometry office with a polished concrete floor is great for children - it's incredibly easy to wipe clean and is fantastic for remote control cars!

So ... yes ... bring in your children and your families, we'd love to see them!

Ocean Optometry is definitely a cool place for cool kids of all ages!