New School Year, Stronger Prescription? Why Your Child's Increasing Myopia Should Not Be Ignored

As a new school year begins, parents often focus on supplies, schedules, and extracurricular activities. But if your child’s glasses prescription has become stronger since last year, that change deserves attention. Increasing nearsightedness, or myopia, is more than a reason to update their glasses - it may be a sign that the eyes are continuing to grow longer.

At Emery Eye-Q Vision, we take childhood myopia seriously. Monitoring how quickly a child’s prescription changes can help us determine whether myopia management may be appropriate.

Why Does My Child’s Prescription Keep Getting Stronger?

Myopia occurs when the eye grows too long, causing distant objects to appear blurry. It often begins during childhood and can continue progressing as the eyes develop.

A stronger prescription from one year to the next means your child’s nearsightedness has increased. While updated glasses can restore clear vision, standard glasses do not address the underlying progression of myopia.

Signs your child’s vision may be changing include:

• Squinting to see the board at school
• Sitting closer to the television or computer
• Complaining that distant objects look blurry
• Holding screens or books unusually close
• Frequently needing stronger glasses prescriptions

Because children may not realize their vision has changed, regular pediatric eye exams are especially important.

Why Slowing Myopia Progression Matters

Progressive myopia can affect more than your child’s ability to see the classroom board clearly. Higher levels of myopia are associated with an increased risk of certain eye health problems later in life.

Myopia management focuses on slowing the progression of nearsightedness rather than simply correcting blurry vision. Starting treatment while a child is still growing may help reduce how quickly the prescription increases over time.

For families in Toronto, the start of a new school year is a good opportunity to evaluate whether a child’s vision has changed and determine if additional myopia care should be considered.

Myopia Management Options for Children

Every child’s eyes, prescription, age, and lifestyle are different, so there is no single myopia management treatment that is right for everyone. At Emery Eye-Q Vision, we evaluate your child carefully before recommending an appropriate approach.

Our myopia management options can include MiSight 1 day contact lenses, overnight orthokeratology or Ortho-K lenses, low-dose atropine eye drops, soft multifocal contact lenses, and Essilor Stellest eyeglass lenses. These treatments use different approaches to help manage myopia progression while providing the vision correction your child needs.

The right option may depend on factors such as your child’s age, prescription, rate of progression, daily activities, and ability to comfortably wear contact lenses.

Do Not Wait for the Next Prescription Change

If your child needed stronger glasses this year, waiting until the next annual prescription update may allow their myopia to continue progressing without intervention. A pediatric eye exam allows us to assess their current vision, review how quickly their prescription is changing, and discuss whether myopia management could help.

Schedule a myopia management evaluation with Emery Eye-Q Vision in Toronto, ON by calling (866) 782-0455 to learn which treatment option may be appropriate for your child.