Myopia, or nearsightedness, is treated with corrective lenses, surgery, or specialized therapies that slow the eye from getting worse over time. The right approach depends on your age, how severe your prescription is, and whether your myopia is still progressing. By 2050, an estimated 52% of the world’s population will be myopic, up from 27% in 2010, which has driven a wave of new treatment options beyond basic glasses.
Glasses and Contact Lenses
Standard single-vision glasses or contact lenses are the most common first-line treatment. They correct blurry distance vision immediately but do nothing to stop myopia from worsening. For adults whose prescriptions have stabilized, this is often all that’s needed.
Multifocal lenses (progressive or bifocal) have been studied as a way to slow progression in children. A meta-analysis of nine trials found they slowed myopia by about 0.25 diopters compared to single-vision lenses, a difference that was statistically real but small enough to have limited practical significance. The benefit was stronger in Asian children and in those with moderate myopia (beyond -3.0 diopters), and it faded after about two years of wear.
Specialty Lenses for Children
Newer spectacle lens designs go further than traditional multifocals. Two types, known as DIMS and HALT lenses, use hundreds of tiny defocus zones built into the lens surface. Both reduce eye elongation and prescription changes compared to standard glasses. Clinical data from a retrospective cohort study found that HALT lenses were the most effective at slowing axial length growth, though in terms of overall prescription change the different myopia-control lens designs performed similarly.
These lenses look and feel like regular glasses, making them a practical option for younger children who aren’t ready for contact lenses or eye drops.
Orthokeratology
Orthokeratology, often called Ortho-K, uses rigid gas-permeable contact lenses worn overnight. While you sleep, the lenses gently reshape the front surface of your cornea, flattening the center and steepening the edges. This creates a temporary correction that lasts through the next day, so you can see clearly without glasses or daytime contacts.
Beyond convenience, Ortho-K also slows myopia progression. Non-randomized controlled trials report that eye elongation in Ortho-K wearers was slowed by about 45% compared to children wearing standard glasses. In one study, average eye growth was just 0.12 mm over 12 months in the Ortho-K group. The lenses must be worn consistently every night; stopping treatment allows the cornea to return to its original shape within days.
Low-Dose Atropine Eye Drops
Atropine eye drops at very low concentrations are one of the most studied treatments for slowing childhood myopia. The drops work by relaxing the focusing mechanism inside the eye and may influence signals that control eye growth, though the exact pathway isn’t fully understood.
Concentration matters. Early research suggested that 0.01% atropine reduced prescription worsening by about 59% over two years. But a later trial (the LAMP study) found a more modest 27% reduction at that same dose, with no significant effect on actual eye elongation. The 0.05% concentration performed better, cutting prescription progression by roughly 67% and eye elongation by 51% over one year. It also showed superior results to lower concentrations after two years of follow-up.
Side effects at these low doses are minimal. Higher concentrations of atropine cause pupil dilation and light sensitivity, but at 0.01% to 0.05%, most children tolerate the drops well. The drops are typically given once nightly.
Red Light Therapy
Repeated low-level red light therapy is a newer approach showing strong early results. Children look into a desktop device that emits red light at 650 nanometers for about three minutes per session, typically twice a day. In a 12-month trial, children using red light therapy had eye elongation of just 0.13 mm compared to 0.38 mm in the control group, a roughly 66% reduction. A separate six-month trial found that eyes in the treatment group actually shortened slightly (by 0.06 mm on average), while the control group grew by 0.14 mm.
Two-year data shows the benefit holds up with continued use. Children who used red light therapy for the full two years had the least eye growth (0.16 mm total), while those who stopped after the first year lost some of their gains. This treatment is available in some countries but is not yet widely approved everywhere, so access varies.
Outdoor Time and Screen Habits
For children who haven’t yet developed myopia, or whose prescriptions are just beginning to change, outdoor time is one of the simplest protective factors. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends at least one to two hours of outdoor time daily. Bright natural light stimulates the release of a chemical in the retina that helps regulate eye growth. Indoor lighting, even in well-lit rooms, doesn’t deliver the same intensity.
The widely cited 20-20-20 rule (look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes during screen use) is popular advice, but a controlled study found no significant effect of these scheduled breaks on digital eye strain symptoms, reading speed, or accuracy. That doesn’t mean breaks are useless for comfort, but the evidence for this specific formula as a treatment is weak. Reducing total near-work time, particularly in young children, is a more broadly supported strategy.
Laser Eye Surgery
For adults whose prescription has been stable for at least a year, laser refractive surgery can permanently correct myopia. Three main procedures are available, and they differ primarily in recovery time and candidacy requirements.
LASIK is the most common and offers the fastest recovery. Most people see clearly within a day. It corrects myopia up to about -8.0 diopters and works by creating a thin flap in the cornea, reshaping the tissue underneath with a laser, then replacing the flap. You need adequate corneal thickness to be a candidate.
SMILE is a newer, flapless procedure that removes a small disc of tissue through a tiny incision. It can treat up to -10.0 diopters, making it an option for higher prescriptions. Visual recovery takes a week or two rather than a day, but the lack of a flap means less risk of flap-related complications and may be better suited for people with active lifestyles or jobs involving physical contact.
PRK is the oldest of the three and is reserved for people who aren’t candidates for LASIK, such as those with thin corneas or subtle surface irregularities. Recovery is the slowest, often taking a month or more for vision to fully stabilize. Retreatment rates for PRK (4% to 21%) run higher than for LASIK (under 16%), but final visual outcomes are comparable across all three procedures.
Implantable Lenses for High Myopia
When myopia exceeds about -8.0 diopters, laser surgery becomes less predictable because it requires removing too much corneal tissue. Implantable collamer lenses (ICLs) are a better fit in this range. A thin, flexible lens is placed inside the eye, in front of the natural lens but behind the iris, through a small incision.
In a comparison of patients with -8.0 to -12.0 diopters of myopia, 50% of ICL patients achieved 20/20 uncorrected vision versus 35% of LASIK patients. ICLs also had better predictability: 90% landed within one diopter of the target prescription, compared to 76% for LASIK. No serious complications occurred in either group. Unlike laser surgery, ICLs are reversible. The lens can be removed or exchanged if your prescription changes significantly or if cataracts develop later in life.
Combining Treatments
For children with rapidly progressing myopia, eye care providers often combine approaches. A common pairing is low-dose atropine drops with Ortho-K lenses or myopia-control spectacles. The logic is straightforward: atropine addresses the biochemical signals driving eye growth while the optical treatment reshapes how light focuses on the retina. There’s no single combination proven superior, so the choice typically depends on the child’s tolerance, lifestyle, and rate of progression. Adults with stable myopia, on the other hand, usually only need to choose between continued lens wear and surgical correction.