A Practice Roadmap to the 2026 Myopia Landscape

Myopia management is changing eye care by implementing treatments that slow the progression of myopia rather than just correcting it. According to recent studies by the International Myopia Institute, more eye care practitioners across the globe are practicing myopia management. In fact, more than 70,000 optometrists worldwide have pledged to make myopia management an integral part of their practice, according to the World Council of Optometry.

“It’s a really exciting time right now—a lot of changes are happening,” says Noreen Shaikh, OD, a pediatric optometrist at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, who with a colleague was the first to implement a myopia management program at a children’s hospital five years ago. “There’s a lot more awareness about myopia management from both providers and parents. Parents come in asking about myopia control now, which hadn’t happened in the last few years.” [Watch our full interview with Dr. Shaikh below.]

In the United States, myopia management treatments are gradually becoming available with approvals from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Many other treatments without FDA approval for myopia management are also currently being used off label for the same purpose.

Still, industry experts estimate that fewer than 10% of U.S. eye care professionals prescribe a full range of myopia therapies. That will change as more products become available, more eye care professionals become aware of and familiar with myopia management treatments, and parents and patients learn that myopia is no longer a disease simply to be corrected but one that can instead be managed, controlled, slowed, and stopped in its tracks.

“Thanks to the growing base of peer-reviewed evidence that myopia is a major health care concern, as well as the expanding availability of options for its management, we are finally approaching professional critical mass,”  says Susan A. Resnick, OD, FAAO, fellow in the Scleral Lens Society, diplomate in the Cornea and Contact Lens Section of the AAO and diplomate of the American Board of Optometry.

With practitioners transitioning from simply correcting myopia to slowing or stopping its progression, some treatments are FDA approved or will soon be while most are still being used off label.

Here, we outline the current landscape in myopia management for 2026 that can serve as a roadmap for opportunities within this specialty.

FDA-Approved Myopia Management Treatments

Currently, there are two interventions that have been cleared by the FDA for treating juvenile-onset myopia in the United States. While one treatment has been available with FDA approval since 2019, the second only achieved approval just last year.

CooperVision’s MiSight 1 day soft contact lenses are approved by the FDA for myopia progression control. The product received FDA approval in November 2019 for correcting myopic ametropia and for slowing the progression of myopia in children. They are intended for children who are between 8 and 12 years of age at the start of treatment and who have a refraction of -0.75D to -4.00D (cycloplegic spherical equivalent) with less than or equal to 0.75D of astigmatism.

More recently, Essilor Stellest spectacle lenses received FDA market authorization for myopia control in September 2025. This product is indicated for the correction of myopia with and without astigmatism and for slowing the progression of myopia in children with non-diseased eyes, who are aged 6 to 12 years at initiation of treatment and have spherical equivalent refraction of -0.75D to -4.50D with astigmatism up to 1.50D. Stellest is the only FDA-approved spectacle lens for slowing the progression of myopia in children.

Off-Label Myopia Management Treatments

Eyecare professionals do not need to wait for FDA approval to implement other myopia management treatments that are already available for their patients and in use in the U.S. Once a drug or medical device has been approved for marketing by the FDA, these drugs or medical devices can legally be prescribed for other purposes.

In fact, the most-prescribed treatments for myopia management in the U.S. are being used off label. These are orthokeratology, multifocal soft contact lenses, and topical low-dose atropine. These treatments are FDA approved but lack a specific labeling indication for myopia management. Still, numerous randomized controlled trials demonstrate their safety and efficacy. For example, all orthokeratology lenses available in the United States are FDA cleared for the temporary reduction of myopia, but none have received a specific labeling indication for myopia progression control.

“Off-label prescribing does not necessarily indicate that the treatment is unsafe, inappropriate, or ineffective,” says Dwight Akerman, OD, MBA, FAAO, Dipl. AAO, FBCLA, FIACLE, Global Ambassador for the International Myopia Institute. “Eye care practitioners can use their professional judgment when prescribing, and in many cases, off-label prescribing is the best treatment option.”

Working Toward FDA Approval

As several companies work toward FDA approval and U.S. adoption with myopia management solutions, experts believe some are likely to reach that goal within the next two to four years. These include:

• Topical low-dose atropine (Sydnexis)
• Software-based therapy (NovaSight)
• 1-day soft contact lenses (Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Visioneering Technologies, Inc.)
• Next-generation spectacle lenses for myopia control from SightGlass Vision, Zeiss, and Hoya
• IOT is also working toward FDA approval for its lens designs

Longer-term, Iveena and Theialife are developing new drugs aimed at slowing the progression of axial elongation in childhood myopia.

“With the FDA market authorization of Essilor’s Stellest lenses, eye care professionals are increasingly prescribing spectacles to children with myopia, especially very young myopic patients,” says Dr. Akerman. EssilorLuxottica’s focus on myopia management is also evidenced by its January 5, 2026, launch of “Eye Imaging for the Study of Childhood Myopia,” an interventional study into the structure of children’s eyes to design products to slow myopia progression.

Myopia Management Awareness and Advocacy Grows

Eye care professionals are gradually transitioning into managing patients’ myopia rather than settling for the time-worn tradition of correcting it by simply adding -0.50 DS to the child’s single-vision prescription and advising the parents to schedule another eye exam in a year. Simultaneously, parents and patients are becoming more aware that there are products available to slow or stop their myopia progression. This is in part a result of the Global Myopia Awareness Coalition, a group of companies and associations that have partnered to increase public awareness of childhood myopia and encourage consumers to ask their eye doctor about treatment options. Consumer media is also increasing awareness.

For practitioners, the American Academy of Optometry’s (AAO’s) Myopia Management Special Interest Group is dedicated to advancing public health initiatives aimed at preventing and managing myopia through equitable access to care. The World Council of Optometry (WCO) recommends that the standard of care for myopia should include both correction- and evidence-based interventions to slow its progression. To help achieve this, the WCO offers the Myopia Management Navigator, an evidence-based guide that takes practitioners on a journey through the three Ms of Myopia Management: Mitigation, Measurement, and Management.

In addition, the American Optometric Association has partnered with CooperVision to form the Myopia Collective, an initiative aimed at rallying the profession of optometry and its allies to interrupt the status quo and realize a new standard of care for children with myopia.

A Myopia Sea Change is Here

Today, practitioners, patients, and products are all simultaneously moving toward a major change in treating myopia by slowing or stopping its progression rather than simply correcting it.

“Optometrists are now, more than ever, cognizant of not merely our role, but our duty to champion the lead in public health awareness, patient education, and clinical myopia control measures,” says Dr. Resnick.