If it feels like more children are wearing glasses than when you were in school, you are not imagining it.
Nearsightedness — myopia — is rising sharply in children, and it has been for decades. The American Academy of Ophthalmology reports that roughly 4 in 10 American children ages 6 to 19 are now nearsighted. The trend is not limited to kids: National Eye Institute research found that myopia among Americans ages 12 to 54 rose from about 25 percent in the early 1970s to roughly 42 percent by the early 2000s. In parts of East and Southeast Asia, rates among young adults reach 80 to 90 percent, and researchers project that close to half the world’s population will be myopic by 2050.
For most parents, this registers as an inconvenience and an expense: a new prescription every year, glasses that get stronger, contacts eventually. That is real. But there is a second reason eye doctors have grown more focused on childhood myopia, and it is the part that does not come up often enough.
Myopia is not just about glasses
Myopia usually develops because the eyeball grows slightly too long from front to back. Light then focuses in front of the retina instead of on it, and distant objects blur. A stronger prescription each year generally means the eye has kept elongating.
That elongation is permanent, and it matters beyond the prescription. A longer eye carries a measurably higher lifetime risk of serious eye conditions in adulthood — retinal detachment, myopic maculopathy, glaucoma, and earlier cataracts. The higher the final degree of myopia, the higher those risks climb.
Which reframes the goal. We are no longer only correcting a child’s vision so they can see the whiteboard. We are trying to slow how far the myopia goes before it stabilizes, because where a prescription lands by the late teens is usually close to where it stays.
That is what “myopia management” means, and it is one of the more meaningful developments in pediatric eye care in a generation.
What is driving the increase
Two factors carry the most evidence.
Not enough time outdoors. This is the most consistent finding in the research, and it is not mainly about screens being bad — it is about daylight being protective. Outdoor light is roughly 10 to 100 times brighter than indoor lighting, and that brightness appears to trigger a dopamine response in the retina that helps regulate eye growth. Research points to somewhere around 80 to 90 minutes a day as a meaningful protective threshold, and the American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends one to two hours of outdoor time daily. It does not have to be sports. Walking, riding bikes, or doing homework on the porch counts.
Sustained close-up focus. Hours of near work — screens, but also books and homework — appear to contribute to elongation, particularly when it is uninterrupted. The common guidance is the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
Genetics also plays a substantial role. A child with one nearsighted parent is at higher risk, and with two, higher still. You cannot change that, but knowing it means starting to watch earlier.
Signs to watch for
Children rarely report blurry vision, because they assume everyone sees what they see. Look instead for squinting at distance, sitting very close to the TV, holding a tablet unusually close, complaining of headaches or tired eyes, losing their place while reading, or rubbing their eyes frequently. A drop in school performance sometimes turns out to be a vision problem.
School screenings catch some of this, but not all of it — they test distance vision and little else. A comprehensive eye exam is a different examination.
How myopia progression can be slowed
Standard glasses correct blurry vision. They are not designed to slow the underlying elongation. Myopia management uses treatments intended to do both, and there are several evidence-supported approaches:
- Low-dose atropine eye drops, a nightly diluted drop
- Orthokeratology, rigid lenses worn overnight that temporarily reshape the cornea
- Specialty soft contact lenses designed with peripheral defocus
- Myopia control spectacle lenses, which look like ordinary glasses
The right option depends on a child’s age, prescription, how fast it is changing, and honestly on what they will actually wear and use consistently.
Essilor Stellest lenses
Stellest is the option many parents ask about, because it addresses the biggest practical obstacle: compliance. It is a pair of glasses. Kids already wear glasses.
In September 2025, Essilor Stellest became the first spectacle lens to receive FDA market authorization in the United States for slowing the progression of myopia in children. Before that, U.S. families choosing a myopia control treatment were largely limited to contact lenses or drops.
The lens looks like a normal single-vision lens. The center corrects a child’s distance vision as usual, while a surrounding pattern of tiny lenslets creates a signal in front of the retina that is intended to slow the eye’s elongation.
In the two-year clinical study reviewed by the FDA, children wearing Stellest showed a 71 percent reduction in myopia progression and a 53 percent reduction in axial elongation compared with children in standard single vision lenses. In that same review, 56 percent of treated eyes progressed less than 0.25 D over two years, compared with 19 percent of eyes in the control group. Consistent wear matters — the lenses only work while they are on a child’s face.
The FDA authorization covers children ages 6 to 12 at the start of treatment, with a spherical equivalent prescription between -0.75 D and -4.50 D and up to 1.50 D of astigmatism. Individual results vary, and Stellest is not a fit for every child — that determination comes from an exam.
Chico Eye Center offers Stellest, dispensed through our optical boutique, so families can complete the exam, the treatment decision, and the fitting in one place.
Start with an exam
Myopia management works best when it starts early, because the fastest progression tends to happen in the elementary and middle school years. If your child has just been prescribed their first glasses, or their prescription jumped at the last visit, that is the moment worth acting on.
Dr. Jaskiran Grewal, OD, focuses on pediatric eye care, and Dr. Kristiane Ransbarger, MD, is our board-certified pediatric and strabismus specialist. Our patients are also our friends, our neighbors, and our family — and for the children in our community.
Schedule your child’s comprehensive eye exam at Chico Eye Center by calling 530-895-1727 or booking online.