Eagle Myopia Control Program for Children

What is Myopia?

Myopia is the medical term for “nearsightedness” or “shortsightedness”.
Caused by excessive elongation of the eye globe in relation to the curvature of the cornea.
Distant objects appear blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina rather than precisely on it.

Why is myopia a problem?

Myopia can lead to the following complications:

Retinal detachment
Myopic macular degeneration
Glaucoma
Early cataract

“Undetected and uncorrected myopia before the age of 6 can lead to lazy eyes (amblyopia)

Treatment Options

ATROPINE DROPS

Myopia usually develops and progresses during childhood and early adolescence,, but stabilises when one enters adulthood. Our preventive efforts are therefore focused on children. Based on a study by the Singapore Eye Research Institute, the Eagle Eye Myopia Control Programme has been developed to reduce the progression of myopia in children using Atropine eye drops. **The original study using Atropine 1% showed a highly promising result with an 77% reduction in myopia progression over a 2-year span, proving that myopia progression can be retarded pharmacologically. Importantly, safety data from the study confirmed that Atropine eye drops is well tolerated and free from significant complications.

**Reference: Atropine for the Treatment of Childhood Myopia Vol.113, Ophthalmology 2006;113:2285-2291 – 2006 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology

More recently, a follow-up study showed that lower concentrations of Atropine eye drops were also effective in slowing down myopia progression. It showed that side effects were minimal and children did not need transitional or progressive glasses. In particular Atropine 0.01% reduced myopia progression by almost 60% and showed less rebound after stopping the drops when compared to the higher concentrations.