Bright Futures- Pediatric Myopia Management by Vold Vision

Welcome to Bright Futures, Vold Vision’s Pediatric Myopia Management Program! Bright Futures is one of the first of its kind in the nation, and we are excited to bring this technology to the Northwest Arkansas Community and surrounding areas. Myopia management is designed to slow the rate of your child’s glasses prescription, reduce the risk of vision loss, and decrease their dependency on contact lenses and glasses. This program is completely customized to your child’s eyes, lifestyle, and age and will be evaluated up until the age of 18 years old. Our goal with Bright Futures is to improve your child’s opportunities in life.

Myopia, also referred to as nearsightedness, is an ocular condition where objects at a distance appear blurry. This is caused by an elongated eye caused by genetics, environment, and other factors. Commonly, myopia starts during childhood and progresses rapidly over the year if interventions are not made. An elongated eye increases the risk of permanent vision loss and other serious ocular diseases. With myopia, early intervention is key to your child’s success in academics, sports, extracurricular activities, and overall eye health.

What is a diopter? A diopter is the unit of measurement for glasses and contact lens prescriptions. Perfect or 20/20 vision would be 0.0 diopters. Adding a minus sign, “- “, in front of the prescription signifies that the patient is myopic or nearsighted, meaning objects at a distance are blurry. In contrast, adding an addition sign, “+”, before a prescription shows that the patient is hyperopia or farsighted, meaning objects at near are blurry and distance is clear. A healthy amount of change for a pediatric patient would be about 0.50D per year.

Ally Grace has always been highly competitive, especially when it comes to sports and academics. At the age of eight, the game had changed! Now, she depended on her glasses to compete and learn, but she wasn’t the first in her family to deal with this obstacle. When her mother, Kristina, heard of the program she was immediately interested. Kristina has struggled with her vision since six years old, and now is a -8.00 prescription! Her dependency on corrective lenses has been passed to Ally’s two older sisters, as well, since myopia is incredibly genetic. Kristina said, “I wish I would’ve known about this program with my two other girls, it would have changed their lives!! For what we spend on contacts and glasses during a year plus, these additional benefits, we wish we would’ve done this sooner for her, but we are thankful we have her in OrthoK lenses now!” Ally is loving her new lenses and the freedom they provide her during the day! She said, “At first it was uncomfortable to wear contacts to bed, but now it’s just a part of my daily life.” On the court, field, or classroom, she doesn’t have to worry about her contacts falling out or glasses breaking, just focusing on the task in front of her!

Vold Vision’s Bright Futures team uses state-of-the-art technology to evaluate your child’s eyes and develop a customized, non-invasive treatment plan for your child. Our non-surgical treatments are comprised of specialty contact lenses and prescription eye drops. During your child’s initial appointment, Dr. Emma Holden, Vold Vision pediatric optometrist, will outline the best plan of treatment for your child.

Overnight Contact Lenses OR Otho-K Lenses Routine:

Worn only during sleeping hours Ortho-K or orthokeratology lenses are specialty contact lenses designed to gently reshape the ‘front surface” of the eye during sleeping eyes, which gives patients “LASIK-like” results during the day. Along with slowing the progression of myopia, patients will no longer need glasses or regular contacts during waking hours!

Daily Soft, Bifocal Contact Lenses OR MiSight Contact Lenses Routine:

Worn during waking hours, daily disposable MiSight Contact Lenses are a daily, soft, bifocal contact that is to be worn during waking hours. This technology utilizes treatment zones to remove strain from the retina, reducing the progression of myopia, and providing comfortable, clear vision during waking hours. Parents love the MiSight App, it provides reminders for when your child is about to be out of contacts and with a click of a button new contacts are ordered.

Atropine Eye Drops Routine:

Used once daily before bedtime compounded atropine eye drops are a great treatment option for our younger patients or to pair with other myopia management treatments. These drops are recommended to be applied in each eye once daily before bedtime. With atropine drops, your child may still rely on glasses or contact lenses to see clearly during the day. Parents with younger children or who do not feel their child is ready for contact lenses, find atropine drops to be a wonderful solution to slowing the progression rate of their child’s myopia.

Your next step would be to schedule an evaluation with Dr. Holden. The initial appointment will identify the most appropriate strategy for each case which can vary by age, lifestyle, activity level, maturity, and, of course, amount of myopia. We recommend both parents or guardians to be present during the appointment in-person or via phone to reassure both parents know the routine, can share family history and all questions can be answered. From there we will have follow-up appointments to track prescription, school, and overall ocular health. To schedule an appointment, call us at (479) 442-8653 or fill out the “Request Info” form on the page.

• Decreased dependency of contacts and glasses
• Slowing the progression of myopia
• Reducing risks of ocular diseases
• Provides your child with an advantage to a more successful future

As a nearsighted child herself, Dr. Emma Holden did not get her first pair of glasses until age 12. She recalls first seeing the ‘leaves on the trees as a huge moment for her. Throughout high school and college, Dr. Emma always found a way to work with children, whether it was as a babysitter, tutor, or volunteering as a science teacher in the community through Denver’s 4H program. Toward the end of undergraduate school, Dr. Emma became more and more intrigued in a career in optometry due to her own dependence on glasses and contact lenses. In optometry school, she found her passion for working with children grew even more as she volunteered at school screenings and loved her time in a pediatric clinic. She is thrilled to be one of the first doctors in the country to provide a comprehensive, customized approach for treating myopia. She loves getting to know each child that sits in her exam chair.

Dr. Emma Holden is a board-certified optometric physician and is a key part of Vold Vision’s pediatric team serving the more than 200,000 children in the region. Since 2019, Dr. Emma has been volunteering as a Big Sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters of NWA. When she's not busy taking great care of her patients, Dr. Holden loves hitting the trails with her dogs Vaughan and Loretta, fly fishing, cooking, collecting vinyl records, and calling the hogs!